Itl 


saMS&iastaxia 


!lx^T>^***\~  j  *  MflKMk 


A  CHRISTIAN  HINDOO  FAMILY. 

The  Wildfc.rds.     Frontispiece. 


THE 


ALCOVE. 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
'POKE  AND  HER  SISTERS,"  "MICHAEL  GRAHAM,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 
No.  1334  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  l>y 

THE   TRUSTEES   OF   TSE 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD  OF   PUBLICATION, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


WFBTCOTT   &   THOMSON, 
Stereotypers,  Philada. 


Stack 
Annex 


W 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEK    I. 

MM 

A  VISIT  TO  ZANZIBAR....  1 


CHAPTER    II. 
GRANDMAMMA'S  ROOM  ...........................................     SO 

CHAPTER    III. 
A  SEA-  VOYAGE  .........................................................     40 

CHAPTER    IV. 
MATTERS  AND  THINGS  IN  INDIA  .................................    53 


CHAPTER    V. 
IN  THE  CONCAN  ........................................................     75 

CHAPTER    VI. 
MISSIONARY  WORK  ..............................  ..  ...................     94 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER    VII. 

PAOB 

A  VISIT  TO  A  KAJAH 113 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
THE  RUBBER-PUNT 124 

CHAPTER    IX. 
HINDOO  BOYS  AND  TODDY- WALLAHS 141 

CHAPTER    X. 
THE  RAINY  SEASON 160 

CHAPTER    XI. 
THE  STORY  OF  GUNGA 181 

CHAPTER    XII. 
WHITE  JESSAMINE 193 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
ELEPHANTA  AND  SALSETTE 202 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
THE  YOUNG  BRAHMIN 217 

CHAPTER   XV. 

JAYAH  AND  RA.MKOOR....  , 235 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

PAGE 

A  STRANGE  JOURNEY  .........  .....................................  248 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
TIIK  CAVES  OF  ELORA  ................................................  272 

<  HA1TKK    XVIII. 
THE  HEAVENLY  IXIIKHITANCE  ....................................   2^J 


CHAPTER    XIX. 
PAST  AND  PRESENT...  .  ......  .............................  295 


THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 


CHAPTER    I. 

A    VISIT    TO   /.A 


'o 

HE  holidays  were   nearly  over,  and   it   was 

almost  school-time  again.     Christmas  pres- 
-     t-nts  had   begun   to  be  an    old  story,  and 


some  of  the  little  people,  tired  of  play,  had 
fairly  taken  to  yawning,  while  others  were  really- 
growing  quarrelsome.  It  was  quite  time  for  them 
to  go  to  work  again. 

A  girl  and  boy  of  ten  and  twelve  sat  at  a  table 
in  a  bright,  pleasant-looking  room,  on  one  of  the 
very  last  days  of  December,  listlessly  turning  over 
the  nice  presents  they  had  brought  out  to  look  at, 
for  the  twentieth  time,  perhaps,  and  wondered  why 
Minnie's  writing-desk,  with  its  pretty  paper  and 
violet  ink,  its  ivory-carved  pen-handle  and  all  its 
many  conveniences,  did  not  look  so  attractive  as 

usual,  while  Harry's  printing-press   (that   he  had 

7 


8  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

actually  talked  of  in  his  sleep  before  Christmas) 
had  quite  lost  its  charm. 

There  were  books  and  pictures  and  many  other 
things  spread  out  before  them,  but  Minnie's  bright 
eyes  were  fixed  on  a  ruby  ring  that  glittered  on  her 
finger,  while  Harry's  hands  were  thrust  into  his 
pockets  and  his  mouth  was  puckered  into  a 
whistle.  Suddenly  he  took  his  eyes  from  the 
ceiling,  at  which  he  had  been  staring  with  all  his 
might,  and  fixed  them  upon  his  sister.  He  began 
to  look  at  her  from  her  head  to  her  feet,  and  then 
from  her  feet  up  again,  as  though  he  wished  to 
examine  her  very  carefully. 

Now,  Minnie  was  a  very  pretty  little  girl,  hand 
somely  dressed  in  the  latest  fashion  for  children, 
and,  unfortunately,  she  knew  all  this  quite  well 
herself,  and  prided  herself  not  a  little  on  her  nice 
appearance.  So  when  Harry  stared  in  that  way 
at  her  neat  bronze  boots  that  fitted  her  so  beauti 
fully,  then  at  the  blue  poplin  dress  and  pretty 
white  apron,  and  lastly  at  the  golden  hair  that 
had  been  so  carefully  crimped  by  Sarah,  the  maid, 
and  tied  back  with  a  blu-j  ribbon,  Minnie  thought 
it  quite  uncomfortable,  and  asked  her  brother  what 
he  was  thinking  of. 

"  How  I'd  hate  to  be  a  girl !"  was  Harry's  an- 


A    VISIT  TO  ZANZIBAR. 

swer — "  dressed  up  like  a  peacock,  with  your  Iriir 
all  in  a  snarl.  (Jirls  are  awful  vain  !  That's  riuht, 
get  mad  now  !  I  knew  you  would." 

Minnie's  checks  were  very  red  at  this  attack,  and 
her  eyes  were  flashing  ;  she  knew  that  she  was  vain, 
and  that  made  her  all  the  more  angry. 

"I  think  boys  are  perfectly  hateful,"  she  began, 
while  Harry  hurst  out  laughing.  He  loved  his  sis 
ter,  hut  he  loved  to  tease  her,  and  affairs  began  to 
look  rather  stormy. 

lint  there  was  another  person  in  the  room  who 
lias  not  yet  been  mentioned.  She  had  been  per 
fectly  quiet,  but  had,  nevertheless,  known  all  that 
was  going  on.  This  wa-  a  very  pleasant-looking 
elderly  lady  lying  among  the  pillows  on  a  lounge 
near  the  fire,  reading  a  newspaper. 

.lust  at  this  moment  she  said  in  a  clear  voice, 
and  very  regretfully,  "The  imuum  of  Muscat  is 
dead  !" 

The  children  both  started  and  turned  toward 
her.  They  had  often  played  "Queen  Dido's  dead," 
but  they  did  not  think  this  was  meant  for  a  play. 

"  What  did  you  say,  grandmamma?"  asked 
Minnie,  full  of  curiosity.  "  What  is  'eem-aum?" 

"  Muskrat,">aid  Harry,  half  to  himself;  "  I  know 
what  that  is." 


10  THE   WILDFORDS   IN  INDIA. 

"The  imaurn  of  Muscat,'  continued  grand 
mamma.  "  Imaum  means  ruler.  Now,  which  of 
you  can  tell  me  where  Muscat  is  V" 

Minnie  shook  her  head  over  it,  while  Harry 
said  boldly  that  it  was  in  India. 

"  Xo,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  let  us  find  it  on  the  map." 

Harry's  school-atlas  was  in  the  room,  and  with 
grandmamma's  help  Muscat  was  found  to  be  a 
city  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  Arabia. 

"There  it  is,"  said  Harry,  quite  proudly,  "right 
at  the  end  of  the  Strait  of  Ormus,  which  sepa 
rates  Arabia  from  Beloochistan.  Did  you  ever  see 
this  imaum,  grandmamma?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford;  "I  paid  him  a 
visit  once,  and  your  mamma  was  with  me." 

"Oh  !"  exclaimed  Minnie,  whose  idea  of  paying 
visits  was  in  a  carriage  with  a  card-case;  "did  you 
go  all  the  way  to  Arabia,  grandmamma,  to  call 
upon  him  ?" 

"No,  my  dear;  I  did  not  see  him  in  Arabia  at 
all ;  I  saw  him  at  Zanzibar,  where  his  son  was 
governor." 

Harry  tried  to  think  where  Zanzibar  was,  for  he 
knew  he  should  be  asked  presently,  but  all  he 
could  be  quite  sure  of  was  that  it  wat;  not  in  the 
United  States. 


A    VISIT  TO  ZAXZIhAR.  11 

"  Look  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,"  said  Mrs. 
Wild  ford,  and  Minnie's  sharp  eyes  soon  discovered 
a  very  small  island  close  to  the  shore  with  a  city 
of  the  same  name. 

"  But  how  did  you  get  way  off  there,  grand- 
mainma?"  she  asked.  "This  isn't  India."  For 
she  knew  that  Mrs.  Wildford  had  been  living  in 
India,  where  she  spent  several  years  with  her  hus 
band  in  teaching  the  poor  heathen  about  the  blessed 
Saviour. 

"  We  were  coming  home  from  India,"  was  the 
reply,  "  and  the  captain  of  the  vessel  wished  to  go 
to  Zanzibar  to  get  a  cargo  of  merchandise.  We 
spent  a  month  there,  collecting  elephants'  tusks 
and  gum-copal  and  turtle-shells,  and  many  other 
things  that  were  brought  to  this  country  and  sold 
for  a  great  deal  of  money." 

"How  very  strange!"  said  Minnie,  wonderingly, 
while  Harry  began  to  think  that  a  great  deal  of 
fun  was  to  be  gotten  out  of  grandmamma.  Per 
haps  she  could  tell  them  all  about  elephant  hunts 
and  thick  forests  full  of  queer  trees  and  dreadful 
snakes,  and  perhaps  she  had  seen  sharks  and 
crocodiles,  and,  possibly,  a  gorilla.  His  eyes  looked 
twice  as  large  at  the  very  thought. 

Minnie  was    thinking  of  the    beautiful   flowers 


12  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

and  shells  and  bright-hoed  birds  that  are  found  in 
tropical  regions,  and  she  wondered  if  grand 
mamma  wouldn't  some  day  show  her  the  inside  of 
those  queer-looking  boxes  in  her  room,  and  espe 
cially  the  little  India  cabinet  that  stood  on  a  small 
table  near  her  bed. 

For  Mrs.  Wildford  was  almost  a  stranger  in  her 
daughter's  family;  it  was  many  years  since  she 
left  India,  and  the  work  she  had  done  there  made 
her  almost  an  invalid.  When  she  returned  to  her 
native  country,  she  came  alone,  for  her  husband 
died  and  was  buried  among  the  people  he  had 
taught  so  faithfully.  When  her  daughter  was  mar 
ried,  she  went  to  live  with  an  older  sister  who 
needed  her  care,  but  she,  too,  had  died  lately,  and 
Mrs.  Wildford  had  come  to  spend  the  remainder  of 
her  life  with  her  children.  It  took  her  grandchil 
dren  some  time  to  get  acquainted  with  her,  for  she 
had  lived  many  miles  away  and  had  seen  very  lit 
tle  of  them,  and  Harry  and  Minnie  were  rather 
afraid  of  grandmamma. 

Perhaps  they  were  a  little  spoiled,  and  they  did 
not  believe  that  she  thought  them  very  good  chil 
dren,  but  they  felt  quite  sure  that  grandmamma 
herself  was  just  as  good  as  it  was  possible  for  any 
one  t  j  be.  No  one  could  see  Mrs.  Wildford's  sweet 


A    F/.v/Y'   To   XAXZIBAR.  13 

smile  and  her  patience  in  suffering  and  disappoint 
ment  without  feeling,  that  she  was  one  who  lived 
very  close  to  her  Saviour. 

She  had  given  herself  in  early  youth  to  her 
Master's  work  among  the  heathen  in  India,  and  had 
hoped  to  spend  her  life  there,  but  this  being  denied 
her,  she  now  cheerfully  devoted  herself  to  the  little 
duties  that  lay  around  her  daily  path.  Christ's 
little  ones  were  her  especial  care,  and  the  two 
children  who  brought  back  the  days  when  her  own 
children  clustered  around  her — three  of  whom 
were  now  lying  with  their  father  in  a  foreign  grave 
— were  especially  dear  to  her. 

"But,  grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  when  the 
inaj)  had  been  carefully  studied,  "aren't  you  going 
to  tell  us  about  Zanzibar,  and  the  elephants,  and 
the  old  fellow  you  went  to  see,  and  all?" 

"  He  was  not  a  particularly  '  old  '  fellow,  Harry," 
said  Mrs.  Wildford,  smiling. 

"  He  was  a  very  great  man,  was  he  not,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Minnie,  with  much  interest. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  grandmother ;  "  he  was  a  rich 
man  in  gold  and  jewels,  but  for  all  that  he  was 
poor:  he  knew  nothing  of  the  Saviour.  His  re 
ligion  taught  him  that  it  was  right  to  have  a 
great  many  wives  and  to  do  many  other  things  that 


14  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

Christians  know  to  be  wrong.  But  I  am  goi.  g  to 
tell  you  about  Zanzibar  and  my  visit  to  the  imaum. 
It  was  about  the  1st  of  January,  184-  ("  Just  this 
season  of  the  year,"  whispered  Harry),  when  our 
vessel  stopped  at  the  island  of  Zanzibar." 

"Was  it  a  pretty  place,"  asked  Minnie,  "with 
nice  houses  and  trees  ?" 

"No,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford;  "I  did  not  think  it 
at  all  pretty;  it  was  very  bare-looking,  with  low, 
flat-roofed  houses  built  of  stones  and  mud,  and 
walls  or  fences  of  the  same.  There  were  tall, 
beautiful  cocoanut  trees  there,  and  palm  and 
orange  trees." 

"Did  you  have  oranges?"  asked  both  children, 
eagerly. 

"Yes,"  replied  their  grandmother;  "they  were 
as  plentiful  as  apples  are  here;  but  I  have  not 
come  to  that  yet.  The  captain  took  us  there,  and 
got  rooms  for  us  at  the  house  of  the  English  con 
sul.  Our  sitting-room  had  very  small  windows 
with  iron  gratings  instead  of  panes  of  glass. 
These  windows  had  very  deep  seats  or  sills,  owing 
to  the  thickness  of  the  walls,  and  your  mamma, 
who"  was  then  about  five  years  old,  would  stand  on 
the  window-sill  to  look  into  the  street.  Her  head 
just  about  reached  the  top  of  the  window,  so 


A    VISIT  TO  ZANZIBAR.  15 

you  will  know  that  the  windows  were  quite  short. 
The  people  of  Zanzibar  were  all  dark  colored,  and 
many  of  them  were  black.  The  better  class  were 
Arabs  and  the  servants  were  African  slave.-. 

"  When  the  fair  little  golden-haired  child  aj>- 
peared  at  the  window,  they  stood  in  groups  and 
stared  at  her;  then  smiled,  showing  their  unbroken 
rmvs  of  large  white  teeth,  and  ended  by  shouting 
with  perfect  delight.  Ada  stayed  at  the  window, 
looking  quite  grave  and  thoughtful,  for  some  time, 
but  at  last  she  ran  away  abashed,  and  burying 
her  head  in  my  lap,  she  sobbed  out,  l  Mamma, 
mamma!  the  black  people  are  laughing  at  me!'" 

"Don't  it  seem  funny  to  think  that  mamma  ever 
talked  in  that  way,"  said  Minnie,  "and  that  .she 
\\;i-  really  a  great  deal  younger  than  I  am  now?" 

"Why  did  they  laugh  at  her?"  asked  Harry, 
quite  indignantly. 

"Because  they  knew  no  better,"  was  the  reply, 
"and  a  white  child  was  a  very  odd  sight  to  them. 
I  have  seen  people  in  this  country  who  did  not  know 
better  than  to  laugh  at  people  for  peculiarities  that 
they  could  not  help." 

Harry  became  very  quiet;  he  was  not  at  all  sure 
that  he  was  free  from  this  charge  himself. 

"The  people  were  all   very   kind   to    us,"  con- 


16  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

tinued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  one  day  the  consul, 
with  whom  we  were  staying,  told  us  that  we  had 
all  been  invited  to  the  palace  of  his  Highness  the 
imaura  of  Muscat,  who  spent  about  half  of  his 
time  at  Zanzibar.  The  American  consul  and  his 
son  had  lately  arrived,  and  we  all  went  in  a  body 
to  accept  the  invitation.  A  palanquin  had  been 
sent  for  me  and  my  little  Ada,  with  four  servants 
to  carry  it." 

"  What  is  a  palanquin  ?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  I  know,"  said  Harry,  impatiently ;  "  it  is  a 
little  closet  that  they  put  you  in,  and  then  some 
men  take  you  up  on  their  shoulders  and  walk  off 
with  you." 

"  It  is  a  small  carriage,"  said  his  grandmother, 
"  on  poles  instead  of  wheels.  It  is  made  of  wood, 
and  there  is  a  two-leaved  door  in  the  middle,  like 
a  folding-door,  with  windows  at  each  side,  and 
often  at  each  end.  There  is  a  small  mattress  in 
side  to  sit  upon,  with  a  brace  for  the  back  and 
shoulders. 

"When  your  mamma  and  I  got  into  the  palan 
quin,  a  crowd  of  black  women  rushed  out  from  a 
house  near  by  and  peered  through  the  windows  at 
us,  laughing  and  shouting  with  pleasure  at  our 
white  skins.  They  would  have  followed  us  all  the 


A    VISIT  TO   ZASZ1UAR.  17 

way  to  the  palace,  which  was  two  miles  off,  had 
not  the  gentlemen  who  were  with  us  prevented 
them. 

"  When  we  reached  the  palace,  we  found  it  not 
much  better  than  the  other  houses  in  Zanzibar,  as 
it  was  built  of  the  same  materials,  but  it  was 
larger,  and  in  front  there  was  quite  a  large  enclos 
ure  filled  with  beautiful  flowers.  There  were  a 
few  cocoanut  trees  about  the  house,  but  the  general 
look  of  the  place  was  bare,  and  it  seemed  very  lit 
tle  like  a  palace. 

"About  halfway  to  the  house  we  were  met  by 
a  fine-looking  man  with  an  Arab  face,  an  im 
mensely  long  beard  and  a  high,  pointed  turban. 
His  dress  was  of  brown  cloth  with  very  wide, 
flowing  sleeves,  and  his  expression  was  grave  and 
dignified.  This  was  his  Highness  the  imaum  of 
Muscat. 

"  I  had  left  the  palanquin,  and  after  shaking 
hands  with  me  and  my  companions  in  real  Amer 
ican  style,  the  imaum  grasped  me  firmly  by  the 
arm,  and  taking  Ada  by  the  other  hand,  he  led  us 
into  the  hall  of  audience." 

"What  is  that?"  asked  Harry. 

"  What  we  would  call  a  reoeption-room,"  was 
the  reply;  "a  room,  or  rather  hall  (for  so  it  was), 


18  THE   WILDFORDS   IS   IXDIA. 

where  visitors  were  received.  A  number  of  black 
eunuchs  were  posted  on  the  verandah  as  a  guard  , 
they  were  dressed  almost  entirely  in  white,  which 
set  off'  their  dark  skins  in  strong  contrast.  They 
wrere  armed  with  short  spears,  and  had  we  not  been 
so  politely  met  by  his  Highness,  they  would  prob 
ably  have  stopped  us  to  learn  our  errand  before 
allowing  us  to  enter  the  palace.  The  hall  of  audi 
ence  was  bare  enough,  the  only  handsome  things  in 
it  being  some  chandeliers  that  were  probably  madt 
in  England." 

"  Why,  how  did  they  get  there?"  asked  Minnie, 
in  surprise. 

"Just  as  things  from  Zanzibar  get  to  other 
places,  my  dear  child  ;  they  had  been  carried  there 
by  some  vessel.  Almost  the  only  furniture  in  thi.s 
hall  of  audience  consisted  of  bamboo  chairs,  of 
which  there  was  a  long  row  on  each  side  of  the 
wall.  Do  you  know  what  bamboo  is?" 

"I  know!"  shouted  Harry,  who  feared  that 
grandmamma  would  tell  them  before  he  got  a 
chance  to  display  his  knowledge;  "  it's  a  cane,  and 
it  grows  in  warm  countries,  whole  jungles  full  oi 
it.  I've  seen  bamboo  chairs  often." 

"I  haven't,"  said  Minnie,  in  a  rather  injure-.! 
tone. 


A    VISIT  TO  /A. \7JBAR.  19 

"Yes,  you  have/'  replied  her  In-other,  "only  no 
one  told  you  they  were  bamboo." 

"It  is  very  much  like  the  seat  of  this  chair," 
said  Mrs.  AVildford,  pointing  to  one  in  the  corner, 
"  and  as  soon  as  I  have  an  opportunity,  Minnie,  I 
will  show  you  a  real  bamboo  chair.  Having  seated 
me,"  she  continued,  "the  imatim  placed  himself  in 
a  corner  chair,  and  the  three  gentlemen  of  the  parts- 
were  grouped  around  him,  while  your  mamma  was 
taken  on  his  knee.  She  sat  very  quietly  for  a  mo 
ment  or  two,  and  then  suddenly  looking  up  in  his 
face,  which  was  very  long  and  quite  dark,  she  gave 
a  scream  that  echoed  through  the  hall." 

The  children  both  laughed,  and  Minnie  said, 
"  I  would  have  screamed  too." 

"Of  course  you  would,"  replied  her  brother; 
"just  like  a  girl!  I  would  have  taken  right  hold 
of  his  beard  and  said,  How  are  you,  old  fellow?" 

"  Then  you  would  have  done  a  very  silly  and 
disrespectful  thing,"  said  his  grandmamma,  "and 
]>erhaps  have  gotten  the  whole  party  into  trouble." 

Harry  muttered  that  he  didn't  think  screaming 
was  very  respectful,  and  Minnie  asked  what  the 
imanm  did  when  his  little  visitor  screamed  so. 

"  He  put  her  down  very  gently,"  was  the  reply 
"and  said  to  the  interpreter,  'She  is  frightened.' 


20  THE   W1LDFORDS  IX  INDIA. 

Your  mamma  ran  directly  to  her  mamma  for  com 
fort,  and  became  very  quiet  for  the  remainder  of 
the  visit.  We  could  only  talk  with  his  Highness 
through  the  interpreter,  for  he  did  not  understand 
English  nor  we  Arabic,  but  I  think  we  managed 
to  say  a  great  deal,  considering  that  it  all  had  to  be 
said  over  twice." 

"What  did  you  talk  about?"  asked  Harry, 
eagerly ;  "  did  he  tell  you  about  his  elephants  and 
things?" 

"No,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford  ;  "the  imaum  did 
not  use  elephants,  but  beautiful  Arab  horses;  he 
told  us  about  them.  There  are  no  elephants  in 
Zanzibar." 

"No  elephants!"  repeated  Harry,  in  great  dis 
gust  ;  "  how  could  they  get  elephants'  tusks,  then,  to 
carry  back  in  the  ship?" 

"  These  were  brought  from  the  main  land/'  said 
his  grandmother — "  from  the  province  of  Zangue- 
bar,  where  the  people  are  not  so  thick  as  they  are 
in  the  little  island  of  Zanzibar.  Elephants  cannot 
be  used  where  there  are  great  crowds  of  people 
about,  because  they  are  so  large  and  clumsy  they 
would  trample  the  people  down,  and  for  this 
reason  they  did  not  have  them  at  Bombay,  iu 
India,  where  I  spent  so  many  years." 


A    VISIT   TO   ZANZIBAR.  21 

"Well,"  said  Minnie,  "  what  else  did  the  man 
talk  about  besides  his  horses  ?" 

"We  were  talking  of  having  his  people  edu 
cated,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  he  seemed  to 
think  it  would  be  a  very  good  thing,  but  he  was 
not  quite  ready  to  open  the  way  for  us  to  begin. 
He  talked  to  us  also  about  his  shambers." 

"Oh  dear!"  said  Minnie,  who  began  to  find 
Arabic  people  very  perplexing ;  "  what  in  the  world 
did  he  mean  ?  You  may  as  well  tell  us,  grand 
mamma,  for  we  shall  never  guess." 

"  I  do  not  expect  you  to  guess,"  replied  her 
grandmother,  laughing;  "he  meant  his  gardens. 
He  had  fine,  large  gardens  a  short  distance  from 
the  city,  where  only  cloves  and  nutmegs  were 
grown." 

"I  like  cloves,"  said  Minnie,  "  they  taste  so  nice 
and  sharp,  but  I  don't  care  about  nutmegs." 

"  I  think  you  care  for  them  in  cakes  and  pud 
dings,"  said  Harry,  "  about  as  much  as  any  one  I 
know  of.  I  never  heard  that  nutmegs  were  to  be 
handed  around  like  apples." 

"  Please  go  on,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  who 
had  quite  a  dread  of  Harry's  attacks. 

"The  i man m  seemed  really  anxious  to  have  us 
see  these  gardens,  and  he  even  sent  horses  for  us 


22  THE   WILDFOPDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  next  day,  but    I   was  not   able  to   lide.     The 
gentlemen  went,  and  found  the  gardens  very  beau 
tiful.     Do  you  know  how  nutmegs  grow,  Harry?" 

"  On  a  tree,  don't  they,  like  acorns?" 

"Xo;  they  do  not  grow  at  all  like  acorns,  for 
the  tree  is  not  nearly  so  large  as  the  oak,  and  each 
nut  is  wrapped  in  a  soft  husk.  Mace  is  found  be 
tween  this  husk  and  the  outer  shell." 

Harry  resolved  to  make  a  note  of  this,  although 
he  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  say  that  he  had 
never  heard  of  it  before.  He  was  quite  an  intelli 
gent  boy,  and  he  liked  to  learn  new  facts. 

"The  clove,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "has  a 
very  strong  leaf  that  is  quite  like  the  mountain 
laurel.  The  flower  is  a  delicate  blossom  of  creamy 
whiteness,  with  something  of  the  odor  that  the 
clove  has,  and  buds,  blossoms  and  fruit  are  all 
found  together.  The  slaves  gather  the  cloves  care 
fully  as  they  ripen  from  day  to  day,  and  I  think 
it  must  be  rather  pleasant  work." 

"  What  did  you  do  at  the  palace  besides  talk  ?" 
asked  Minnie,  whose  curiosity  respecting  the  imaum 
was  not  yet  satisfied. 

"We  were  furnished  with  refreshments,"  replied 
the  grandmother,  "and  the  servants  who  brought 
them  to  us  were  dressed  with  Oriental  splendor. 


A    VISIT  TO   ZANZIBAR.  2o 

They  carried  their  waiters  around  to  the  visitors, 
but  the  imaum  took  nothing  himself.  These 
waiters  were  just  japanned  tea-trays." 

"Like  that  one  in  the  nursery?"  said  Minnie,  in 
a  disappointed  tone.  "Why,  I  thought  they  would 
be  gold  in  a  palace;  ours  are  silver." 

"Everything  was  very  plain,  indeed,  my  dear; 
we  had  some  very  black  coffee  served  in  a  sort  of 
wine-glass  placed  in  a  larger  one,  some  American 
crackers,  sherbet,  which  is  a  very  sweet  drink, 
some  little  cakes  and  preserved  fruit." 

"I  don't  think  that  was  anything  great,"  said 
Harry;  "I  would  have  been  real  mad  to  have 
crackers  and  things  I  could  get  here  handed  to  me 
away  off  in  Zanzibar.  Why  couldn't  the  man 
give  you  splendid  grapes  and  bananas  and  oranges 
and  sweetmeats,  I  should  like  to  know?" 

"I  did  not  ask  him,"  replied  his  grandmother. 
"  I  concluded  that  the  imaum  was  trying  to  enter 
tain  us  in  what  he  thought  was  the  most  agreeable 
manner.  When  the  servants  had  carried  the  re 
freshments  away,  the  interpreter  told  me  that  his 
Highness  invited  me  and  my  little  daughter  to  go 
with  him  to  the  apartments  where  his  wives  lived. 
These  women'  are  never  allowed  to  appear  before 
men,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  party  were  left  in 


24  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  hall  of  audience,  while  the  imaum  led  the  way 
up  some  very  rickety  stairs,  and  your  mamma  and 
I  followed  him. 

"  We  came  out  upon  what  is  called  the  terrace, 
which  was  over  the  verandah,  and  railed  across  the 
front.  There  were  rooms  on  both  sides  of  this  ter 
race,  and  doors  and  windows  opened  upon  it.  The 
imaum  spoke  to  some  one  through  a  window,  and 
then  took  a  key  from  his  pocket  and  unlocked  a 
door.  We  followed  him  to  an  inner  door,  where 
he  changed  his  slippers,  and  then  led  the  way  into 
an  elegant  saloon.  It  was  beautifully  furnished 
with  lounges  and  long  mirrors,  and  all  sorts  of 
tables,  and  pretty  and  curious  things  brought  from 
all  parts  of  the  world. 

"We  were  soon  joined  by  nine  women,  who  also 
changed  their  slippers  before  they  entered  the  room. 
They  had  half  masks  on  their  faces,  which  did  not 
prevent  me  from  seeing  that  most  of  them  were 
young  and  handsome  ;  every  one  wore  a  veil  of 
thick  red  silk  that  was  thrown  back  and  fell  be 
low  the  waist.  They  had  also  a  tunic  of  flowery 
silk,  very  much  like  a  deep  sacque,  that  reached 
halfway  between  the  knee  and  ankle,  and  very  full 
trowsers.  Poor  things !  although  called  wives, 
they  were  only  slaves  and  could  have  no  wills  of 


A    VISIT  TO  ZANZIBAR.  25 

their  own.  They  oarne  up  to  me  and  shook  hands, 
but  their  faces  were  turned  away,  and  as  soon  as 
they  had  done  this  they  sat  together  in  a  group  and 
began  to  chatter  among  themselves. 

"I  asked  the  imaum,  in  Hindoostani,  if  lie  had 
any  children,  and  he  seemed  to  understand  me,  for 
a  bevy  of  queer-looking  little  Arabs  were  called 
in,  but  I  could  not  tell  the  girls  from  the  boys. 
They  stared  very  hard  at  my  little  Ada,  but  did 
not  offer  to  touch  her,  and  she,  on  her  part,  stared 
equally  hard  at  them.  I  tried  to  attract  the  chil 
dren  to  me,  but  they  only  laughed  and  showed 
their  white  teeth,  while  they  hung  about  their  papa 
with  the  utmost  freedom.  He  seemed  to  be  quite 
an  affectionate  father,  and  I  was  glad  to  see  that 
the  children  were  not  afraid  of  him. 

"  When  we  were  about  to  leave,  the  imaum  threw 
a  shawl  of  Eastern  workmanship  over  my  arm.  I 
could  only  bow  my  thanks.  A  present  of  this 
kind  was  an  ordinary  piece  of  politeness  to  for 
eign  visitors,  and  the  captain  of  the  ship  received 
a  like  attention,  but  he  was  quite  displeased  that 
his  shawl  was  not  handsomer." 

"  Is  that  the  queer-looking  shawl  that  you 
sometimes  have  around  you,  grandmamma?" 
asked  Minnie. 


26  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  Yes,  my  dear,  and  when  you  see  it 
wish  you  to  examine  the  border  carefully.  It  is 
all  worked  by  hand,  and  shows  an  immense  amount 
of  patience." 

"  Was  that  the  end  of  your  visit?"  asked  Harry, 
who  cared  very  little  about  the  shawl. 

"Very  nearly,"  was  the  reply,  "for  almost  as 
soon  as  we  had  returned  to  the  hall  of  audience 
the  imauni  spoke  a  few  words  to  the  interpreter, 
who  then  said  to  us,  '  His  Highness  asks  you  to 
excuse  him :  it  is  his  hour  of  prayer.'  It  was 
four  o'clock,  and  shaking  hands  with  us  again,  the 
imaum  went  up  to  the  house-top  to  pray,  after  the 
custom  of  the  Mohammedans." 

"Who  are  the  Mohammedans?"  asked  Harry, 
eager  for  fresh  information. 

"The  followers  of  Mohammed,"  replied  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "who  lived  in  Arabia  more  than  five 
hundred  years  after  Christ,  and  taught  people  to 
believe  in  himself  next  to  God.  He  made  a  great 
many  disciples  among  the  people  of  the  East,  be 
cause  he  permitted  them  to  live  easy,  selfish  lives, 
and  said  that  it  was  only  necessary  for  them  to 
obey  the  Koran  (a  book  which  he  gave  them  in 
place  of  tho  Holy  Bible),  and  they  would  certainly 
get  to  heaven.  The  Turks  are  all  Mohammedans, 


A    VISIT   TO  7. [\7fRAR.  27 

and  so  arc  the  Arabs,  Persians  and  many  other 
Eastern  nations." 

"Well,"  said  Harry,  reflectively,  "the  inianm 
of  Muscat  must  have  !>een  a  queer  old  fellow.  It 
was  so  funny,  grandmamma,  for  you  to  go  and  see 
him." 

"  Is  there  anything  in  what  I  have  told  yon  of 
him,"  asked  his  grandmother,  "that  it  would  he 
well  for  us  to  imitate'.'" 

Harry  ga/ed  at  the  speaker  in  astonishment,  but 
little  Minnie,  after  some  hesitation,  ventured  the 
words:  "  He  said  his  prayers,  grandmamma." 

"Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford  ;  "  he  was  almost 
a  heathen,  for  he  knew  nothing  of  the  Saviour,  but 
few  Christians,  I  fear,  would  leave  a  party  of  vis 
itors  as  quietly  as  though  it  were  the  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world  to  perform  a  duty  to  God.  So 
that  even  a  Mohammedan  imaum  can  teach  us,  if 
we  are  willing  to  learn." 

Harry  thought  rather  uncomfortably  of  many 
times  when  he  had  left  his  prayers  unsaid  for  very 
poor  reasons,  while  Minnie  began  to  feel  that  a 
Christian  child  should  be  more  faithful  than  an 
untaught  Arab. 

Grandmamma  wisely  said  nothing  more,  for  she 
did  not  believe  in  preaching,  ano1  she  knew  that 


28  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  children  would  not  forget  any  part  of  that  visit 
to  Zanzibar. 

Mrs.  Bolton,  the  mother  of  Harry  and  Minnie, 
came  into  the  room  while  the  children  were  gath 
ered  around  their  grandmother,  and  smiled  at 
their  eager  looks.  She  was  very  sweet  looking, 
but  she  was  quite  a  fashionable  lady,  and  her  rich 
silk  dress  trailed  on  the  floor  as  she  walked  across 
the  room. 

Minnie  gazed  at  her  mother  with  eyes  of  won 
derment  as  she  tried  to  trace  the  little  Ada  who 
had  screamed  with  terror  at  the  dark  Arab  face  so 
close  to  her  own. 

"Oh,  mamma,"  she  exclaimed,  "grandmamma 
has  been  so  delightful !  She  has  told  us  lots  about 
you  when  you  were  a  little  girl,  and  all  about 
Zanzibar  and  everything." 

"  I  am  afraid  my  dear  mother  has  gotten  herself 
into  trouble,"  said  Mrs.  Bolton  as  she  leaned  over 
her ;  "  these  little  people  are  so  insatiable  they  will 
'always  be  asking  for  more." 

"You  know,  my  daughter,"  was  the  reply, 
"  that  if  is  one  of  my  greatest  pleasures  to  live 
those  days  and  those  scenes  over  again,  and  I  in 
tend  to  give  the  children  a  great  many  accounts 
yet  of  my  adventures." 


A     ,'ISIT  TO  ZANZIBAR. 


29 


"And  elephants,  grandmamma!"  shouted  Harry  ; 
"there  must  have  been  elephants  somewhere  in 
India." 

Mrs.  Wildford  smiled  as  she  said,  "I  brought 
some  curiosities  with  me  from  Zanzibar  that  I  must 
show  you  when  I  go  to  my  room." 

The  children  wondered  what  they  were  like,  but 
grandmamma  did  not  tell  them.  The  day  had 
been  a  very  bright  one,  after  all,  and  the  brother 
and  sister  quite  forgot  the  little  disturbance  of  the 
morning. 


CHAPTER  II. 

GRANDMAMMA'S  ROOM. 


found  herself  very  com 
fortably  established  in  her  grandmother's 
room,  with  just  enough  of  a  cold  to  pre 
vent  her  from  going  to  school,  but  she 
was  not  ill  enough  to  take  nauseous  doses.  She 
rather  liked  this  kind  of  illness,  for  after  a  few 
days  of  school  a  holiday  seemed  a  very  pleasant 
thing,  and  she  always  enjoyed  being  petted. 

Mrs.  Wildford  was  feeling  particularly  well  this 
morning,  and  she  had  taken  her  granddaughter  to 
her  own  room  for  the  express  purpose  of  amusing 
her.  This  room  had  always  seemed  to  the  children 
a  charmed  spot  since  grandmamma  came  to  occupy 
it,  but  they  had  been  carefully  instructed  that  they 
were  never  to  go  there  unless  especially  invited, 
and  on  no  account  to  touch  anything  except 
when  grandmamma  gave  them  leave. 

Grandmamma  loved  the  sunshine,  and  had  plenty 
of  it  in  her  room,  but  from  other  parts  of  the 

30 


GRANDMAMMA'*    WtnM.  31 


house  it  was  carefully  .-hut  out  with  blinds  and 
curtains.  Mrs.  Wildfowl's  blinds  were  wide  open, 
and  the  windows  were  draped  only  with  thin  white 
muslin,  but  green  vines  that  grew  in  pots  were 
climbing  over  the  curtains,  and  Minnie  thought  this 
ever  so  much  prettier  than  blue  or  red  damask. 

The  Indian  cabinet  on  the  little  table  was  the 
centre  of  attraction,  because  you  could  not  at  all 
see  what  was  in  it,  but  there  were  beautiful  shells 
on  the  mantel,  and  Minnie's  eyes  were  iixed  so  ad 
miringly  on  these  that  her  grandmother  took  down 
two  or  three  of  the  prettiest  and  placed  them  in 
her  hands,  saying  as  she  did  so,  "  These'  came  from 
Zanzibar." 

Minnie  looked  at  them  with  fresh  interest,  and 
thought  that  two  or  three  white  ones  covered  with 
prickers,  as  she  called  them,  and  having  beautiful 
pink  and  crimson  lips,  were  the  loveliest  things 
she  had  ever  seen. 

"Did  you  really  pick  these  up  from  the  beach. 
yourself,  grandmamma?"  she  asked. 

"  Xo,  my  dear,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  I  was  not  able 
when  I  was  at  /an/ibar  to  do  any  walking  or 
Mooping.  These  were  brought  to  the  door  for  sale 
by  some  of  the  natives,  who  took  a  great  many 
things  about  in  this  way." 


32  777.7?    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"There  Is  a  shell  store  down  town/'  said  Minnie, 
"  hut  mamrna  says  the  man  asks  a  great  deal  for 
his  l-h nigs.'' 

"  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  does/'  replied  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "for  before  the  shopkeeper  gets  them 
they  must  pass  through  several  hands,  and  every 
one  gets  more  than  he  paid  for  the  shells,  the  shop 
keeper  probably  most  of  all.  I  dare  say  that  the 
people  of  Zanzibar  wondered  that  visitors  should 
care  to  carry  their  shells  away  with  them,  and  only 
expected  to  get  what  would  pay  them  for  the 
trouble  of  picking  them  up.  I  used  to  have  a  very 
large  collection  of  foreign  shells,  but  I  have  given 
a  great  many  away." 

"  Why  did  you  do  that,  grandmamma  ?"  said 
Minnie,  regretfully. 

"  Why  did  your  papa  and  mamma  and  other 
friends  give  you  presents  at  Christmas,  Minnie?" 

"Because  I  wanted  them,  I  suppose,"  said  the 
little  girl,  slowly. 

"It  was  to  give  you  pleasure,  of  course,"  replied 
the  grandmother,  "and  to  give  themselves  pleasure 
too,  for  it  is  the  highest  kind  of  pleasure  to  make 
others  happy." 

Minnie  had  not  yet  discovered  that  there  was 
anything  much  nicer  than  to  be  made  happy  one's 


GRANDMAMMA'S  ROOM. 

self,  and  she  wondered  if  she  should  »ver  feel  as 
her  grandmother  did. 

"Did  you  bring  anything  else  from  Zanzibar 
besides  shells?"  she  asked,  presently. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply;  "here  is  something  else; 
let  me  see  if  you  can  find  out  what  it  is." 

"Isn't  it  a  flag?"  said  Minnie  as  she  turned  the 
curious-looking  thing  over  in  her  hand. 

"  That  is  what  most  people  call  it,"  said  her 
grandmother,  "  but  it  is  really  a  fan." 

The  little  girl  looked  very  much  surprised,  as 
well  she  might,  for  the  fan  had  a  handle  of  very 
light  wood  about  a  yard  long,  and  at  one  end  a 
small  square  of  coarse  white  muslin  was  embroid 
ered  with  red,  green  and  yellow  silk,  and  finished 
with  a  fringe  of  cocoanut  fibres.  The  muslin  was 
double  and  worked  the  same  on  both  sides;  it  was 
stiffened  with  something  placed  between  the  two 
layers.  The  little  square  scarcely  measured  a 
quarter  of  a  yard,  and  it  was  securely  fastened  to 
the  handle  by  thin  strips  of  palm  leaf.  Minnie 
waved  it  to  and  fro  with  much  satisfaction,  and 
found  that  it  answered  the  purpose  of  a  fan 
very  nicely,  but  she  never  could  help  calling  it 
a  flag. 

"  What  else,  grandmamma?"  for  the  bright  eyes 


34  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

were  roving  restlessly  about  in  quest  of  fresh  trea 
sures  from  Zanzibar. 

Mrs.  Wildford  took  a  small  bottle  from  a 
bracket  and  asked  Minnie  what  she  saw  in  it. 

"  I  see  a  horrible  bug!"  she  replied,  with  a  half 
scream.  "Oh,  please  take  it  away,  grandmamma; 
I  am  afraid  of  it !" 

"There  are  two  very  good  reasons,"  said  her 
grandmother,  "  why  you  should  not  be  afraid  of  it ; 
one  is,  that  the  horrible  bug  is  quite  dead,  and  if  this 
is  not  sufficient,  see  how  tightly  his  prison-house  is 
sealed  up." 

Minnie  began  to  think  that  he  was  not  very 
dangerous,  after  all,  and  even  ventured  to  take  the 
bottle  in  her  own  hands.  She  read  on  the  label, 
"  Scorpion,  Zanzibar,  184—." 

"How  did  you  get  it,  grandmamma?"  was  the 
next  question.  "  Don't  scorpions  bite  awfully?" 

"  Their  sting  is  certainly  very  painful,"  was  the 
reply.  "  This  is  only  a  baby  scorpion,  and  I  came 
by  it  in  quite  an  unexpected  manner,  as  I  had  no 
intention  of  bringing  one  with  me.  One  day,  soon 
after  my  arrival  in  America,  I  was  arranging  some 
of  my  things,  and  I  unfastened  two  or  three  fans 
that  were  tied  together,  this  one  among  the  number. 
Suddenly  I  felt  a  sharp  prick,  like  running  a  needle 


GRANDMAMMA'S  ROOM.  35 

into  one's  finger,  and  on  looking  for  the  cause,  I 
saw  this  small  scorpion  running  as  fast  as  his  legs 
could  carry  him.  I  took  him  up  with  my  scissors 
and  dropped  him  into  a  bottle  of  alcohol  where 
a  locust  was  already  established." 

"  Did  he  eat  the  locust?"  asked  Minnie,  eagerly. 

"He  was  too  busy  to  think  of  feasting,"  was  the 
reply ;  "  all  his  legs — and  you  will  see  that  he  has  a 
great  many  of  them — were  employed  in  kicking  for 
about  five  minutes  as  hard  as  he  could,  but  he  has 
been  still  ever  since." 

"He  was  drowned,  wasn't  he?"  asked  Minnie; 
"  I'm  glad  he  was  killed.  But  it  is  very  queer  that 
he  should  have  been  tucked  in  among  these  fans.  I 
wonder  if  a  scorpion  ever  traveled  so  far  before  ?" 

"  It  probably  came  in  the  form  of  an  egg,"  said 
her  grandmother,  "  and  was  hatched  on  the  voyage. 
What  is  still  more  remarkable,  I  found  the  shell 
of  a  spider  that  the  scorpion  had  evidently  eaten 
close  to  the  spot  it  ran  from.  This  was  its  provi 
sion  for  the  voyage,  and  it  shows  us  how  wonder 
fully  God  cares  for  the  meanest  of  his  creatures." 

"But,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  earnestly, 
"  why  should  God  care  for  such  wicked  creatures 
as  scorpions,  that  do  nothing  but  sting  people?  I 
should  think  he  vould  want  them  all  to  die,  in- 


36  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

stead  of  giving  them  things  to  eat.  I  don't  mind 
their  eating  spiders,  though/'  she  added  ;  "  I  think 
they  ought  to  die  too." 

"God  has  his  own  wise  purposes,  my  child,  in 
this  as  in  many  other  things  that  we  cannot  under 
stand.  The  very  wisest  of  us  must  not  presume  to 
think  that  we  could  improve  the  ordering  of  God's 
universe  in  the  smallest  particular." 

As  Minnie  felt  sure  that  she  was  not  wise  at  all, 
she  became  silent,  and  looked  very  hard  at  the 
scorpion  through  a  small  magnifying  glass  that  her 
grandmother  handed  her. 

"Why,  it  looks  three  times  as  large  as  it  did  be 
fore!"  said  she,  at  length,  "and  I  see  its  sting  at 
the  end  of  its  tail.  How  I  should  hate  to  feel  it! 
It  has  claws,  too,  just  like  a  little  lobster.  Thank 
you,  grandmamma,  for  showing  it  to  me,  but  I 
think  I  had  rather  not  look  at  it  any  more." 

Minnie  shuddered  a  little  as  she  put  the  scor 
pion  out  of  sight;  she  was  very  glad  that  such 
things  were  not  running  about  in  America. 

"  Do  they  get  into  the  houses  in  Zanzibar,"  she 
asked,  presently,  "or  are  they  only  out  of  doors?" 

"  It  is  quite  common  to  find  scorpions  there 
under  the  mats,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  in 
the  corners  of  the  rooms.  Sometimes  a  person, 


GRANDMAMMA'S  ROOM.  37 

in  stepping  out  of  bed,  and  putting  his  foot  into 
his  boot  or  slipper,  will  suddenly  feel  the  sting  of 
a  scorpion.  They  always  sting  if  they  are  touched, 
but  I  have  been  told  that  they  will  crawl  harm 
lessly  over  you  if  you  remain  quiet.  I  cannot  say 
that  I  should  like  to  try  it." 

"Think  of  a  scorpion  in  your  slipper!"  said 
Minnie,  looking  almost  as  wretched  as  though  she 
expected  to  find  one  in  her  own  the  next  morning. 
"  How  I  should  scream  !  But  papa  really  had  a 
cockroach  in  his  boot  once,"  she  continued,  "and 
wore  it  down  town  all  day  before  he  found  it 
out." 

"Did  he  scream?"  asked  her  grandmother,  quite 
gravely. 

"  No,  ma'am,"  she  replied,  a  little  confused ; 
"  cockroaches  don't  bite  or  sting,  but  they  are  not 
pleasant." 

"  But,  my  dear  child,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  very 
kindly,  "  if  we  scream  at  everything  that  is  not 
pleasant,  we  shall  make  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary 
noise  in  the  world." 

"  Well,"  said  Minnie,  smiling,  "  I  am  not  going 
to  scream  any  more,  grandmamma,  if  I  can  heip 
it.  Harry  laughs  at  me  so." 

"Does  he?"  said  Harry,  bounding  in  at  this  mo- 


38  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

ment  and  giving  his  sister  a  kiss.  "Oh,  grand 
mamma,  I  forgot !  I'll  go  back  and  knock." 

And  back  marched  Master  Harry  to  give  a  gentle 
rap  on  the  outside  of  the  door. 

"I  don't  think  I  said,  Come  in,"  observed  his 
grandmother  as  he  made  his  appearance  again. 

"  Didn't  you,  ma'am  ?"  said  he,  rather  crest 
fallen. 

"No,  because  you  didn't  give  me  time,  but 
now  I  say,  Stay  in  if  you  wish.  But  what  brings 
you  home  so  early  ?" 

"It's  not  very  early,  grandmamma;  it  is  half- 
past  two,  and  I'm  off  for  a  splendid  skate. 
Hurrah  !" 

"And  I've  had  no  luncheon,"  said  Minnie, 
plaintively ;  "  how  hungry  I  must  be  !" 

Harry  laughed  at  his  little  sister  till  she  grew 
quite  angry. 

"I  know  that  grandmamma  must  have  been 
telling  you  things,"  said  he;  "anything  about  ele 
phants  ?" 

"  No,"  replied  Minnie,  trying  to  forget  her  in 
juries;  "there  was  a  scorpion,  though." 

"  That  begins  to  sound  lively,"  said  Harry,  and 
when  Mrs.  Wildford  brought  the  bottled  reptile 
out  again  for  his  benefit,  he  called  it  a  gay  old 


GRANDMAMMAS  ROOM.  39 

fellow.  His  cheeks  were  bright  and  his  eyes 
sparkling  with  the  crisp,  cold  air,  and  Minnie 
gazed  wistfully  after  him  as  he  went  off  with  his 
skates  on  his  shoulder,  saying, 

"  Let  me  know  when  you  come  to  the  elephants, 
grandmamma." 

Mrs.  Bolton  had  gone  out  to  spend  the  day, 
and  grandmamma  and  her  little  visitor  had  been 
too  much  interested  to  think  of  the  flight  of  time. 
But  Minnie  soon  decided  that  she  was  very  hun 
gry,  and  Sarah  brought  up  a  nice  luncheon  that 
had  full  justice  done  it. 

Then  grandmamma  had  her  nap  to  take,  and 
Minnie  went  off  quietly  to  her  mother's  dressing- 
room,  where  she  took  up  one  of  her  Christmas 
books  and  forgot  all  about  the  scorpion  for  two 
hours  at  least. 


CHAPTER    III. 

A    SEA-VOYAGE. 

HERE  came  a  very  stormy  day,  when  the 

snow  and  sleet  beat  violently  against  the 
3 

windows.     Minnie  was  not  allowed  to  go 

out  at  all,  and  Harry  came  directly  home 
from  school  and  proposed  to  his  grandmother  that 
she  should  be  a  book  of  travels. 

"  A  fellow  gets  so  tired  of  reading,"  said  he, 
"and  you  can't  ask  questions  of  the  people  in 
books,  and  when  they  say  queer  things,  you  can't 
contradict  'em.  Not  that  I  mean  to  contradict 
you,  grandmamma,"  he  added,  hastily,  "but  you 
know  what  I  mean." 

Mrs.  Wildford  smiled,  and  said  that  she  was  not 
quite  sure  that  she  did  know,  but  she  believed  she 
understood  that  Harry  wished  to  hear  an  account 
of  her  travels  instead  of  taking  the  trouble  to  read 
a  book  on  the  subject, 

"  I  know  I  should  like  it  a  great  deal  better," 
he  replied,  "so  please  begin  at  the  very  beginning, 

40 


A   SKA- VOYAGE.  41 

grandmamma,  and  toll  us  all  about  your  going  to 
India  and  what  you  did  when  you  got  there." 

"  I  cannot  promise  you  any  elephants,"  said 
grandmamma,  presently. 

"Oh,  never  mind,"  replied  Harry;  "there'll  be 
lots  of  other  things,  and  I  want  to  hear  about  the 
people  in  India  :  they're  such  funny-looking  things 
in  pictures." 

"  Please  do,  grandmamma,"  pleaded  Minnie ;  "  it 
will  be  so  nice.  I  don't  know  a  single  girl  whose 
grandmother  ever  went  to  India." 

As  she  looked  a  little  lofty  at  this,  Harry 
hastened  to  assure  her  that  she  had  nothing  to  do 
with  grandmamma's  going  to  India,  which,  as  she 
was  not  born  until  long  afterward,  Minnie  could 
not  deny. 

"  "Well,  I  know  it's  a  nice  thing  to  have  ances 
tors,"  said  she,  defiantly,  "for  I  heard  one  of  the 
large  girls  at  school  say  so." 

Harry  began  to  laugh,  as  he  generally  did  when 
ever  Minnie  made  a  mistake,  and  grandmamma 
asked  what  she  meant  by  ancestors. 

"  Why,  people  that  do  things  before  you  are 
born,  aren't  they?"  said  the  little  girl,  half 
frightened. 

"All  the  people  that  did  things  before  you  w«-re 


42  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

born  couldn't  be  your  ancestors,  Minnie,"  replied 
Mrs.  Wildford  ;  "  ancestors  are  persons  of  your  own 
family  who  have  lived  and  died  many  years  ago — 
your  great-grandparents,  for  instance,  and  even 
farther  back  than  that;  you  and  Harry  are  their 
descendants.  Some  of  these  people  may  have  been 
very  bad,  but  that  would  be  no  fault  of  yours,  and 
if  they  were  good,  you  could  take  no  credit  to  your 
self  for  their  goodness.  But  what  people  generally 
boast  of  in  their  ancestors  is  wealth,  fame  or  rank, 
and  this  is  probably  what  Minnie's  friend  was 
speaking  of.  It  is  a  very  pleasant  thing  to  be 
well-born,  of  good,  brave,  noble  ancestors,  but  as 
it  does  not  depend  in  the  least  upon  ourselves,  so 
it  is  the  very  last  thing  upon  which  we  should 
pride  ourselves." 

"  Were  our  ancestors  nice  people,  grandmamma  ?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  They  were  nice  people  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,"  replied  his  grandmamma,  "for  they  were 
true  servants  of  God  :  '  Friend  of  God  '  was  Abra 
ham's  highest  title.  But  we  shall  not.  get  to  India 
very  soon,  I  am  afraid,  by  going  back  to  our  an 
cestors;  that  was  not  the  way  I  started." 

Harry  was  about  to  say,  "Drive  on,  grand 
mamma,"  but  he  restrained  himself  just  in  time. 


A   SEA-VOYAGE  43 

"There  are  two  things,"  continued  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford,  "  that  I  want  my  children  to  remember  when 
they  ask  me  to  give  them  an  account  of  my  life  in 
India.  The  first  is  that  I  did  not  go  there  for 
profit  or  enjoyment  in  a  worldly  point  of  view. 
I  went  there  solely  to  benefit  the  poor  heathen  who 
had  lived  so  long  in  darkness,  and  the  work  of  a 
missionary  has  very  little  to  do  with  scenes  of  en 
joyment.  There  are  some  pleasant  things,  though, 
in  my  Indian  experience  that  I  believe  you  would 
like  to  hear  about,  but  then  you  must  remember, 
too,  that  I  can  only  tell  you  of  the  country  as  it 
appeared  all  those  years  ago,  when  your  mother 
was  a  little  girl.  Many  things  have  been  changed 
since  then,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  is  now 
spread  in  India  almost  beyond  the  hopes  of  those 
who  worked  there  then." 

"And  will  you  really  begin  with  going  off  in 
the  ship,  grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie;  "  I  want 
so  much  to  hear  about  your  sailing  over  the  ocean 
so  far  away.  How  long  did  it  take  you  to  go  to 
India?" 

"  From  May  until  September ;  how  long  is  that, 
Minnie  ?" 

"  Four  long  months,"  replied  the  little  girl. 
"  Did  it  really  take  all  that  time  ?" 


44  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"Yes,"  said  her  grandmother,  "and  loLg  months 
they  were  indeed." 

"  Would  it  take  as  long  as  that  now  to  go  to 
India?"  asked  Harry. 

"  No ;  it  would  not  take  one-third  of  the  time," 
was  the  reply.  "  Travelers  now  go  by  what  is  called 
the  overland  route,  which  means  going  from  here 
to  England  first,  but  keeping  on  the  water  nearly 
all  the  time.  We  sailed  in  what  is  called  a  mer 
chant-vessel,  and  that  goes  very  slowly." 

"Who  were  we,  grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie; 
"you  and  mamma?" 

"  No,  my  child ;  your  mamma  was  not  born  then. 
You  never  saw  your  grandfather,  Minnie,  but  we 
were  just  married  then,  and  we  thought  it  very 
pleasant  to  be  able  to  go  and  do  our  work  to 
gether." 

Mrs.  Wildford  stopped  for  a  few  moments,  and 
the  children  thought  of  the  picture  in  their  moth 
er's  room  with  such  a  kind  expression  and  deep, 
loving  eyes ;  that  was  all  they  knew  of  their  grand 
father. 

"We  sailed  from  New  York,"  continued  their 
grandmother,  "on  a  bright  morning  in  May,  183-; 
our  friends  all  gathered  around  us  to  say  good-bye, 
and  most  of  them  never  expected  to  see  us  again. 


A  SEA- VOYAGE.  45 

We  sailed  off  into  the  ocean,  and  soon  lost  sight  of 
land  altogether.  We  did  not  see  it  again  until  we 
reached  Bombay,  except  a  very  distant  glimpse  of 
the  island  of  Madagascar." 

"Here  it  is,"  said  Harry,  who,  at  his  grand 
mother's  request,  had  brought  a  map  of  the  world, 
"away  off  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  I  don't  see 
what  it  has  to  do  with  going  to  India." 

"Look  a  little  closer,  Harry,  and  tell  me  just 
how  I  would  go  from  New  York,  in  the  United 
States,  to  Bombay,  in  India." 

Harry  began  tracing  his  grandmamma  down  the 
map  in  an  imaginary  ship,  but  when  he  came  to 
the  equator,  Mrs.  Wildford  stopped  him  to  tell  him 
of  the  dreadful  heat  that  made  some  of  the  passen 
gers  very  ill. 

"I  was  very  sea-sick,"  she  continued,  "and  so 
ill  that  your  dear  grandfather  had  his  hands  full  in 
attending  to  me,  but  every  one  was  very  kind — 
captain  and  sailors  and  all.  The  nights  were  very 
beautiful,  although  I  was  not  able  to  see  many  of 
them ;  the  skies  were  very  clear  and  the  stars 
bright  and  large.  The  Southern  Cross,  which  we 
do  not  see  above  the  tropics,  was  very  distinct,  and 
often,  as  the  ship  moved,  there  would  be  a  pathway 
of  light  behind  her;  this  was  made  by  cur'ous  sea- 


46  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

animals  that  seem  halfway  between  fishes  and 
plants.  They  are  quite  transparent,  and  shine 
beautifully  at  night.  We  sailed  on  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  (Harry  found  it  on  the  map),  and  then 
came  the  hardest  part  of  our  voyage.  Going  around 
the  point  of  land  at  the  southern  end  of  Africa 
is  what  sailors  call  doubling  the  cape,  and  the 
waves  seemed  resolved  to  do  their  worst  to  prevent 
us  doubling  it.  The  ship  often  appeared  to  be 
standing  up  on  end,  and  then  again  it  would 
plunge  away  down  into  such  a  valley  of  water  that 
getting  out  of  it  looked  quite  impossible.  But  He 
who  holdeth  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand 
brought  us  up  again  in  safety,  and  we  were  thank 
ful  to  get  into  calm  seas.  We  doubled  the  cape 
without  seeing  it  at  all." 

"Didn't  you  get  dreadfully  tired  of  the  water, 
grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie. 

"Yes,  dear;  I  did  get  tired  of  it,  but  I  tried  to 
remember  that  I  did  not  go  for  pleasure,  and  for 
thirty  days  at  least  I  was  too  sea-sick  to  think 
much  about  it.  After  that  I  was  very  busy  in 
learning  the  Mahratta  language;  one  of  the  mis 
sionaries  who  sailed  with  us  had  already  spent  some 
years  in  India,  and  she  was  kind  enough  to  teach 
us  during  the  voyage." 


A   SEA- VOYAGE.  47 

"Was  that  the  language  they  spoke  in  India?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  In  that  part  of  India/'  replied  his  grandmamma. 
"Bombay  is  situated  in  what  is  called  the  Mahratta 
province,  but  the  dialect  of  every  province  is  dif 
ferent.  After  we  had  passed  the  cape  a  very  sad 
thing  occurred.  Among  the  sailors  was  a  boy  only 
two  or  three  years  older  than  you,  Harry,  and  this 
was  his  first  voyage.  One  day  while  sitting  in  the 
cabin  with  some  of  the  other  ladies,  I  felt  a  sudden 
trembling  of  the  ship,  and  the  motion  was  so 
strange  that  we  all  began  to  think  the  vessel  was 
sinking.  It  seemed  very  dreadful  to  us  to  be  going 
down  into  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  and  we  fell  on 
our  knees  to  pray,  but  the  lady  who  had  been  to 
India  before  told  us  that  the  ship  was  only  tacking, 
which  means  going  back,  and  she  thought  some 
one  had  fallen  overboard. 

"  We  rushed  upon  deck  to  inquire,  and  soon 
learned  that  the  lad  I  spoke  of  had  been  sent  up 
into  the  rigging  for  some  duty,  but  not  being  used 
to  it,  he  missed  his  footing,  and  striking  his  head 
as  he  fell  against  a  heavy  beam,  he  sank  into  the 
ocean  and  never  rose  again.  The  ship  was  put 
back  and  a  boat  lowered  t<?  seek  for  him,  but  they 
found  only  his  cap." 


48  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"Poor  boy  !"  said  Minnie,  with  tears  in  her  eyes 
while  Harry  looked  very  sober.  "Do  you  think 
he  was  a  good  boy,  grandmamma?" 

"  I  am  afraid  he  had  not  had  very  good  train 
ing,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford  ;  "  he  ran  away  from 
his  parents  to  go  to  sea,  and  this  was  the  result  of 
his  disobedience.  I  had  scarcely  spoken  to  him, 
for  I  had  not  been  able  to  sit  up  very  long,  but  I 
gave  him  a  little  tract  one  day,  and  afterward  I  saw 
him  reading  it  very  carefully. 

"  When  I  was  able  to  be  on  deck,  and  we  were 
not  pitching  and  tossing  on  a  rough  sea,  your  dear 
grandfather  and  I  would  walk  up  and  down,  talk 
ing  of  what  we  would  do  for  the  heathen  and  look 
ing  forward  with  joy  to  the  beginning  of  our  work 
among  them.  One  day  some  one  said  we  were 
making  the  island  of  Madagascar,  and  supposing 
that  this  meant  to  go  on  shore  there,  we  got  our 
selves  in  readiness,  but  we  were  quite  disappointed 
to  find  that  we  went  no  nearer  than  to  see  a  dim 
streak  of  land  in  the  distance. 

"On  we  sailed,  direct  for  Bombay,  as  the  captain 
said,  and  very  soon  again  we  could  see  nothing 
before  or  behind  us  but  the  great,  deep  ocean. 
Then  the  captain  told  us,  quite  unexpectedly,  that 
in  one  week  we  should  be  in  Bombay,  and  we  felt 


A   SEA-VOYAGE.  49 

so  glad  to  think  that  the  long,  tedious  voyage  was 
nearly  over. 

"  The  day  before  we  landed  boats  were  rowed 
up  to  the  ship,  and  dark-colored  men  almost  naked 
came  on  board  with  fruit  to  sell.  They  had 
oranges,  bananas,  dates  and  some  other  fruits  that 
I  did  not  know  the  names  of  and  can  scarcely  re 
member  now,  and  they  looked  so  strange  in  their 
white  turbans  and  no  dress  but  a  piece  of  cloth 
tied  around  their  waists  that  we  ladie.s  ran  down 
again  to  the  cabin,  quite  to  the  amusement  of  the 
captain  and  sailors,  who  were  used  to  such  sights. 

"At  length  we  were  sailing  into  the  harbor  of 
Bombay,  and  the  band  of  missionaries  knelt  to 
gether  in  prayer  to  give  thanks  for  our  safe  arrival. 
I  gazed  eagerly  around  as  we  approached  the  city, 
but  it  did  not  look  in  the  least  as  I  expected.  The 
walls  of  the  houses  were  of  mud,  and  the  houses 
were  low,  with  flat  roofs,  and  oh,  sad  sight  to  a 
Christian !  the  Hindoo  temples  rose  in  place  of 
church-spires,  where 

'  The  heathen,  in  his  blindness, 
Bows  down  to  wood  nnd  stone.' " 

" That's   from    'Greenland's    icy    mountains/' 
said  Minnie.     "I  know  it  all,  grandmamma." 


50  THE   WILDFORDK  IX  INDIA. 

"But  you  do  not  know  \vho  wrote  it,  I  think," 
said  Mrs.  Wildford.  "  It  is  the  famous  missionary 
hymn  written  by  Bishop  Heber,  the  good  English 
missionary  who  was  so  much  beloved  in  India.  I 
think,  Harry,  that  you  would  like  some  day  to  read 
his  '  Journey  through  India.'  " 

"  Perhaps  I  should,"  replied  Harry ;  "  I  dare  say 
he  saw  elephants." 

"  I  have  no  doubt  he  did,"  said  his  grandmamma. 
"But  I  think  it  is  nearly  dinner-time,  and  it  will 
scarcely  do  for  me  to  talk  any  more  to-day." 

"Please  get  yourself  off  the  ship,  won't  you, 
grandmamma  ?"  said  Minnie,  beseechingly ;  "  that 
would  be  such  a  good  place  to  stop  at,  just  as  the 
stories  do." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  I  will  get  my 
self  off  the  ship,  and  into  the  mission  house;  it 
will  not  take  very  long  to  do  that.  The  ship  could 
not  go  close  to  the  shore,  and  we  had  to  be  lowered 
into  a  small  boat.  A  rope  and  tackle  were  fast 
ened  to  the  end  of  one  of  the  yards  of  the  main 
mast  of  the  ship,  and  one  lady  at  a  time  was 
fastened  in  the  chair,  covered  with  the  flag  and 
then  let  down  by  a  pulley  into  the  boat.  This  was 
not  very  pleasant,  but  the  sailors  who  helped  ,us 
down  were  strong  and  kind,  and  we  did  not  feel 


A   SEA- VOYAGE.  51 

frightened.  How  do  you  think  \ve  got  from  the 
shore  to  the  house  where  we  were  going  ?" 

"  Did  somebody  carry  you  ?"  asked  Harry. 

"Yes;  four  somebodies  carried  each  of  us.  A 
crowd  of  men  with  palanquins  stood  there,  very 
much  like  the  hackmen  in  our  American  cities ; 
they  chattered  at  us  very  earnestly,  but  we  could 
not  understand  them.  They  were  probably  recom 
mending  their  different  vehicles.  Your  grandfather 
selected  the  nicest-looking  palanquin  for  me  (only 
one  person  can  ride  in  a  palanquin).  I  got  into  it, 
with  his  help,  and  your  grandfather  got  into  his 
palanquin,  and  the  dark,  half-dressed  men  trotted 
off  with  us  to  the  mission  house. 

"  This  was  very  pleasantly  situated  a  little  out  of 
the  city,  with  plenty  of  beautiful  flowers  and  shrubs 
and  trees  around  it,  and  the  house  had  quite  a  com 
fortable,  home  look.  We  were  very  kindly  wel 
comed  by  the  missionaries  who  were  already  at 
work  there,  and  were  shown  to  a  nice  room  fur 
nished  very  much  like  our  rooms  at  home.  The 
beds  were  all  covered  with  mosquito-nets,  for  these 
pests  are  thick  in  India  all  the  year  round,  and  the 
floors  looked  very  cool  and  clean  with  their  nice 
fresh  matting.  It  was  nearly  tea-time  when  we 
arrived,  and  the  meal  was  quite  like  an  American 


52 


THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 


tea,  so  that  we  began  to  feel  very  much  at  home. 
And  now  that  I  am  quite  off  the  ship,  Minnie,  and 
landed  in  Bombay,  I  think  I  shall  stop  to  get  ready 
for  my  dinner  in  New  York." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MATTERS  AND  THINGS  IN  INDIA. 
T   was   not  long  before  the   children   were 
again  established  in  grandmamma's  room, 
eager  to  hear  what   happened   to   her  in 
Bombay. 

"What  did  you  do  first?"  asked  Harry,  "and 
didn't  everything  seem  very  queer?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Minnie,  "  I  want  to  know  how 
people  begin  to  be  missionaries.  Did  you  have  a 
crowd  of  people,  and  tell  them  that  you  had  come 
to  teach  them  ?" 

"No,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "not  at  first;  I 
might  have  talked  to  the  Hindoos  all  day  without 
making  them  understand  me.  You  forget,  my 
dear,  that  these  people  knew  nothing  of  English, 
and  that  I  knew  very  little  of  their  language.  I 
had  to  study  hard  before  I  could  begin  to  teach, 
and  your  grandfather  and  I  would  sit  at  our  les 
sons  day  after  day  and  laugh  at  each  other's  mis 
takes,  while  the  natives  laughed  at  us  both.  But 
your  grandfather  was  quicker  at  learning  the  lan- 

53 


54  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

guage  than  I  was,  and  long  before  I  could  con 
verse  freely  he  was  preaching  to  them  of  the 
Saviour  and  winning  souls  to  Christ.  I  went  into 
the  school  that  was  held  in  the  house  where  we 
first  lodged,  to  see  how  the  heathen  children  were 
taught.  It  was  very  different  from  our  schools. 
The  scholars  were  dark-skinned  little  girls  from 
six  to  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  some  with  scarcely 
anything  on  them  in  the  way  of  clothing,  others 
with  the  full  dress  of  the  Hindoo  women,  which 
always  includes  a  veil  in  the  same  piece  with  the 
dress,  and  some  with  a  spot  of  red  paint  upon 
their  forehead,  the  meaning  of  which  you  would 
never  guess." 

Harry  seemed  quite  disposed  to  try,  but  grand 
mamma  finally  had  to  tell  him  : 

"  It  meant  that  they  were  married  women ;  it  is 
a  part  of  the  marriage  ceremony  for  the  Hindoo 
bridegroom  to  paint  the  bride's  forehead  in  this 
way.'*' 

"Why,  grandmamma,"  exclaimed  Minnie,  in 
great  perplexity,  "  I  thought  you  said  they  were 
little  girls  only  six,  or  ten,  or  twelve  years  old  ?" 

"  They  would  have  been  little  girls  in  America," 
was  the  reply,  "  but  in  India  they  were  women. 
A  Hindoo  father  is  anxious  to  marry  his  daughters 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN  INDIA.         55 

almost  before  they  can  walk ;  this  is  part  of  his 
religion.  If  he  gets  his  daughter  married  before 
she  is  six  years  old,  he  is  promised  the  highest 
place  in  the  Hindoo  heaven ;  if  before  seven,  the 
next  highest  place;  but  if  his  daughter  remains 
unmarried  until  she  is  ten  or  twelve,  he  has  the 
lowest  place  of  all." 

"  Only  think,"  said  Minnie,  whose  thoughts 
seemed  to  dwell  upon  this  subject,  "  of  a  little  girl 
only  as  old  as  I,  and  even  younger,  being  called 
'  Mrs.,'  like  mamma !" 

This  amused  Harry  very  much,  and  he  de 
clared  that  Minnie's  head  was  an  inch  or  two 
higher  as  she  thought  that  if  she  were  living  in 
India  she  might  be  called  "  Mrs.,"  like  mamma. 

"What  did  all  these  married  ladies  do?"  asked 
Harry  ;  "  were  they  very  quiet  and  good  in  school, 
or  did  they  cut  up  sometimes  ?" 

"  They  were  generally  very  good,"  replied  his 
grandmamma,  "  and  they  were  paid  a  pice  a  day 
for  coming  to  school." 

"  Well,  that  was  a  funny  school,"  said  Minnie, 
"  to  pay  the  scholars  for  coming  to  learn !  I 
thought  that  the  scholars'  parents  always  had  to 
pay  the  teachers." 

"They  do,  usrdly,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "but 


56  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

it  was  hard  to  get  the  Hindoo  children  into  the 
schools,  and  especially  the  girls.  The  women 
there  were  never  taught  anything,  and  could  not 
even  read  in  their  own  language,  and  the  mission 
aries  were  so  anxious  to  teach  the  poor  things  that 
they  willingly  paid  them  this  trifle  for  coming  to 
school.  A  pice  is  an  Indian  coin  of  copper  worth 
about  a  cent  of  your  money.  I  will  show  you 
one." 

The  children  pressed  eagerly  forward  to  examine 
the  coins  which  their  grandmamma  took  from  one 
of  the  drawers  in  the  little  cabinet,  and  found 
that,  with  the  exception  of  one,  they  were  very 
nice  and  smooth-looking.  This  rough  one  was  a 
native  Hindoo  coin,  also  called  a  pice,  and  just  a 
little  less  in  value  than  the  pice  coined  in  the  gov 
ernment  mint.  A  silver  coin  about  the  size  of  a 
three-cent  piece  was  marked,  "  Two  Annas,"  and 
another,  of  the  same  precious  metal,  bore  the 
stamp,  "  One  Rupee."  This  was  about  the  size  of 
an  American  half  dollar,  and  a  few  cents  less  in 
value.  There  was  also  a  native  rupee,  as  rough- 
looking  as  the  copper  coin,  that  was  found  after 
ward  quite  in  a  corner  by  itself. 

"A  dying  Hindoo  gave  me  this,"  said  Mrs. 
Wildford,  ':  many,  many  years  ago,  and  begged  me 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN  INDIA.         57 

to  keep  it  as  long  as  I  lived  to  remember  that  I 
had  shown  him  the  way  to  the  Saviour.  I  think  it 
was  all  he  had." 

Minnie  took  the  rough  rupee  in  her  hand  again, 
and  felt  glad  to  think  that  the  poor  man  had  now 
no  need  of  silver  or  gold  in  the  blessed  country 
where  he  had  gone. 

"Did  the  children  like  to  come  to  school?"  asked 
Harry,  presently. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply;  "they  seemed  to  like  it 
very  much,  and  they  took  a  great  deal  of  pleasure 
in  the  singing.  Just  before  school  was  dismissed 
they  always  sang  a  little  hymn  in  the  Mahratta 
language  which  said  they  must  not  be  late  at 
school,  and  that  when  they  went  home  they  must 
not  quarrel  by  the  way,  but  must  be  kind  to  each 
other.  It  also  told  them  to  come  to  school  again 
with  clean  hands  and  faces  and  hair  nicely  combed. 
They  had  combs  given  to  them  for  their  own 
especial  use." 

"  How  I  should  like  to  hear  them  sing  that !" 
said  Minnie.  "  It  must  have  been  so  funny." 

Mrs.  Wild  ford  began  to  sing  in  a  clear,  sweet 
voice,  that  trembled  a  little  as  she  thought  of 
the  past,  the  very  hymn  that  the  Mahratta  chil 
dren  sang  in  that  Bombay  school,  but  to  Harry 


58  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

and  Minnie  it  seemed  very  much  like  nonsense. 
All  that  they  could  make  of  the  first  line  was, 
"Gunty  wadseetur,  apple-yard,  gurree,"  and  the 
remainder  was  very  much  in  the  same  style. 

They  listened  very  attentively,  and  thanked  their 
grandmamma  for  taking  the  trouble  to  sing  for 
them,  but  they  could  not  help  thinking  that  they 
would  have  laughed  to  hear  a  roomful  of  children 
singing  in  such  a  funny  way. 

"  Those  strange  Indian  words  do  not  seem  at  all 
funny  to  me,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford ;  "  they  seem 
very  sweet,  and  oh  what  a  blessed  thought  that 
some  of  the  voices  that  joined  in  the  simple  hymn 
of  the  mission  school  are  now  singing  the  song  of 
the  redeemed  in  paradise !" 

The  children  were  quite  silent  for  a  time,  but 
presently  grandmamma  said,  "I  must  tell  you 
about  our  own  little  house,  for  we  did  not  stay 
long  where  we  were  taken  at  first,  in  the  house 
occupied  by  other  missionaries.  It  was  not  a 
very  large  house,  but  it  was  quite  pleasant  and 
comfortable;  it  was  built  of  chunam  and  red 
brick." 

"What  is  chunatn  ?"  asked  Harry.  "Is  it  a 
kind  of  wood  ?" 

"  No,"  was  the   reply ;   "  it  takes  the  place  of 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN  INDIA.         59 

mortar,  and  is  made  of  lime  from  pounded  shells  and 
sand.  Our  house  was  square,  and  it  had  some  very 
nice  rooms  in  it,  but  all  those  on  the  first  floor  were 
used  for  schoolrooms.  We  had  quite  a  large  gar 
den  with  cocoanut  and  other  palm  trees  in  it,  and 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  flowers  I  have  ever 
seen.  The  jessamine  seems  to  grow  everywhere  in 
India,  and  the  air  was  full  of  its  fragrance." 

"  But  weren't  you  dreadfully  warm  in  your  little 
house,  grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie;  "I  have 
heard  mamma  say  that  it  is  so  very  hot  in  India." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  we  were  warm, 
certainly,  but  we  expected  this  when  we  went  to 
India.  The  rich  English  people  who  lived  there 
kept  themselves  pretty  comfortable  with  tatties  and 
punkahs." 

" Tatties?"  repeated  Harry,  in  a  bewildered  tone. 
"Why,  mamma  makes  tatties,  but  I  don't  see  what 
good  that  could  do." 

"Your  mamma  makes  tatting,  my  dear,  which 
would  do  no  good  at  all,  as  it  is  only  a  narrow 
trimming,  but  a  tattie  is  a  large  mat  made  of 
sweet-scented  grass  called  kuskos  and  placed  before 
an  open  door  or  window  where  the  wind  is  strong 
est.  A  servant  dashes  water  on  the  tattie  from  the 
outside,  and  when  there  is  a  good  wind  and  the 


60  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

servant  is  faithful  to  his  work,  the  air  of  the  room 
is  made  quite  cool  and  pleasant.  But  often  in 
India  there  is  no  wind  at  all,  and  the-  bheestie,  or 
water-carrier,  is  always  going  to  sleep  unless  he  is 
watched,  and  then  when  he  stops  the  room  seems 
warmer  than  ever." 

"What  was  the  other  thing,  grandmamma?" 
said  Minnie — "punk  something." 

"The  punkah,  Minnie,  is  an  immense  fan  near 
the  ceiling  of  the  room,  which  is  moved  by  a  cord 
that  goes  through  the  wall  to  the  verandah.  The 
servant  who  attends  to  this  stands  or  sits  in  the 
verandah  and  pulls  the  string." 

"  Why  didn't  you  have  tatties  and  punkahs, 
grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie,  sorrowfully. 

"  Because,  my  dear  child,  we  were  missionaries, 
and  could  not  afford  to  keep  servants  enough  to  at 
tend  to  these  luxuries.  If  we  had  spent  our  money 
thus  we  could  not  have  supported  two  or  three 
native  children  in  the  boarding-school,  which  it 
was  our  pleasure  to  do.  But  we  kept  our  doors 
and  windows  tightly  closed  all  day,  and  after  a 
while  we  began  to  get  used  to  the  heat.  When 
night  came,  I  think  a  little  girl  I  know  would  have 
screamed  occasionally  had  she  been  there." 

"  Tell  me  abou/  ^t,  grandmamma,"  said  Harry, 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN    INDIA.         61 

quite  gleefully.  "  1  really  hope  you  saw  something 
dreadful." 

"  Nothing  more  dreadful  than  bats,"  replied  his 
grandmother,  "and  all  sorts  of  bugs  and  insects 
that  came  flying  in  in  swarms  as  soon  as  the  cocoa- 
nut-oil  lamp  was  lighted." 

"I  think  that  bats  are  horrible!"  said  Minnie, 
with  a  shudder.  "I  had  one  in  my  hair  once." 

"Didn't  he  have  a  good  time,"  laughed  Harry, 
"  in  all  that  mop  of  yours  !  It  was  in  the  country, 
grandmamma,  and  Minnie  pranced  round  just 
like  this,  screaming,  'Go!  oo!  oof  and  we  could 
scarcely  catch  her  or  the  bat  either.  Oh,  it  was 
such  fun  !" 

Minnie  laughed  herself,  although  she  looked 
rather  disposed  to  cry,  and  grandmamma  found  it 
impossible  to  keep  from  smiling  at  Harry's  comic 
mimicry,  but  she  patted  the  flushed  little  face  very 
kindly,  while  Harry  kissed  the  pout  from  the  red 
lips. 

"I  think,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "that  Minnie 
would  not  have  much  hair  left  if  an  Indian  bat 
once  grasped  it,  they  are  such  huge  creatures,  and 
as  all  the  flying  things  appeared  to  think  that  our 
lamp  had  been  lighted  for  their  express  benefit,  we 
had  quite  a  lively  time  with  them." 


62  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  IXDIA 

"What  did  you  do,  grandmamma?"  asked 
Minnie,  in  a  tone  of  dismay  at  this  flying  assem 
blage. 

"We  got  used  to  them,  my  dear;  this  was  all 
that  we  could  do  with  a  great  many  things  in 
India." 

"  Did  you  get  used  to  the  snakes,  too,  grand 
mamma?"  said  Harry. 

"  There  were  very  few  of  them  where  I  was  to 
get  used  to,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford.  "You  prob 
ably  think,  as  I  did  before  I  went  to  India,  that 
the  country  is  almost  carpeted  with  snakes,  but  I 
had  been  there  several  years  before  I  saw  one." 

"  Can't  you  tell  us  about  the  snake-charmers  ?" 
asked  Harry,  who  felt  quite  disappointed  at  this 
account. 

"  I  can  only  tell  you,"  was  the  reply,  "  that  a 
party  of  these  jugglers  once  came  to  us  and  told 
us  that  there  were  snakes  under  our  house,  asking 
permission  to  charm  them  out,  but  your  grand 
father  would  not  allow  it." 

"  Why,  that  was  strange,"  said  Minnie ;  "  did 
grandpapa  want  the  snakes  to  stay  there?" 

"No,  my  dear,  but  these  jugglers  probably 
brought  the  snakes  with  them,  and  after  perform 
ing  their  incantations  they  would  have  pretended 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN   INDIA.          63 

that  they  came  from  under  our  house,  and  then 
have  demanded  money  for  getting  them  out." 

"  Grandmamma/'  said  Harry,  suddenly,  "  you 
did  see  alligators  and  crocodiles,  didn't  you  ?  I  re 
member  reading  about  the  mothers  in  India  throw 
ing  their  little  children  to  the  crocodiles." 

"  That  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  Harry. 
I  am  sorry  to  disappoint  you  so  often,  but  you  must 
remember  that  Bombay  is  on  the  ocean,  and  alli 
gators  and  crocodiles  live  in  the  rivers.  Perhaps 
you  would  like  to  hear  something  about  the  heathen 
temples?" 

"Oh  yes,  indeed!"  exclaimed  Minnie;  "  plcnsc 
tell  us  how  the  poor  heathen  prayed  to  their  gods." 

"We  visited  a  heathen  temple  soon  after  our 
arrival,"  continued  Mrs.  Wild  ford,  "and  a  number 
of  people  came  in  and  brought  little  offerings,  often 
of  rice,  which  they  set  down  before  their  god. 
Would  you  like  to  see  some  of  these  gods  or 
idols  ?" 

The  children  examined  the  small  brass  and  clay 
images  which  their  grandmother  placed  before  tl.em 
as  she  said, 

"  The  idols  in  the  temples  were  very  much  larger 
than  these ;  such  as  these  were  often  carried  about 
on  men's  heads  for  sale,  just  as,  in  this  country, 


64  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

they  carry  plaster  images.  This  is  only  done  be 
fore  idols  have  been  consecrated,  or  the  god  brought 
into  them  by  a  Brahmin  pundit.  Until  this  is  done 
they  are  not  considered  sacred,  and  they  are  given 
as  toys  to  children,  and  used  to  ornament  rooms." 

There  was  quite  a  variety  of  idols;  one  was 
sitting  cross-legged,  with  an  elephant's  head ;  one 
standing  with  folded  hands  and  the  face  of  an 
ape,  and  one  with  a  staff,  and  something  in  the 
other  hand  that  looked  like  the  handle  of  a 
drawer. 

"That  fellow-  is  making  a  face!"  said  Harry, 
presently;  "he's  as  ugly  as  sin." 

"  Unfortunately,"  replied  his  grandmother,  "  sin 
is  not  always  ugly  in  appearance;  it  would  be 
better,  perhaps,  to  say  that  this  idol  is  as  hideous 
as  sin  really  is  in  the  eyes  of  God.  But  what  do 
you  think  of  a  bit  of  painted  stone  for  a  god, 
Harry?" 

It  was  a  good-sized  pebble  painted  of  a  bright 
vermilion  color,  and  an  inscription  on  it  said  that 
it  had  been  consecrated  for  worship  by  daubing  it 
with  koonkoo. 

"  After  the  ceremony  of  consecration,"  said  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "  the  god  was  supposed  to  be  inside  of 
the  stone,  and  so  the  poor  blind  Hindoos  wor- 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN  INDTA.         65 

shiped  it.  One  of  their  gods  is  called  Siva,  one 
Rama,  one  Theli,  one  Doorga,  but  then  they  have 
so  many,  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  tell  you- 
the  half  of  them.  This  idol  whose  ugliness  seems 
especially  to  strike  you,  Harry,  is  a  mendicant 
priest,  or  Brahmin  who  has  spent  his  life  in 
begging,  who  has  bathed  in  the  sacred  waters  of 
the  Ganges,  and  now  that  he  is  dead,  he  is  wor 
shiped  as  a  god." 

"Are  their  temples  like  our  churches,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Minnie. 

"No,  my  dear;  they  are  not  at  all  like  them. 
Here  is  a  picture  of  the  inside  of  one  of  their 
temples  or  pagodas." 

It  was  a  rough  painting  on  common  paper,  done 
in  gaudy  colors  of  red,  and  blue,  and  yellow,  with 
a  globe  or  ball  on  the  top,  and  in  the  centre  the 
figure  of  a  woman  with  four  arms  and  feet.  She 
was  decked  with  innumerable  chains  and  jewels, 
and  underneath  was  written :  "  The  Goddess 
Doorga,  wife  of  Siva,  in  her  temple." 

"And  there  is  the  mark  on  her  forehead,"  said 
Minnie,  who  remembered  about  the  little  girls  in 
school,  "  to  show  that  she  is  somebody's  wife.  But 
what  are  all  these  people  doing  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  picture,  grandmamma?  See!  there  is  a 


66  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

woman  lying  on  her  back,  with  her  hands  like 
little  Samuel's  in  the  nursery,  and  a  man  has  a 
great  bowl  of  fish  on  his  head,  and  another  woman 
has  a  basket  of  fruit,  and  some  men  are  blowing 
trumpets,  and  every  one  seems  to  be  making  a 
great  noise." 

"  They  are  going  to  the  temple  with  offerings  to 
the  goddess,  and  the  woman  on  the  ground  is  the 
wife  of  some  rich  Hindoo  who  is  probably  praying 
for  a  child.  She  is  dragging  herself  along  in  that 
way  instead  of  walking,  to  please  the  goddess  and 
make  her  listen  to  her  prayer.  She  has  hired  all 
the  other  people  to  help  her.  It  is  very  seldom," 
continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "that  many  people  are 
assembled  at  one  time  in  these  temples.  Three  or 
four  times  a  day  the  priests  beat  their  gongs  in 
honor  of  the  idols,  and  on  some  festival  occasions 
they  light  up  the  buildings  and  have  some  very 
beautiful  fireworks.  I  have  sometimes  seen  the 
towers  of  a  pagoda  ornamented  with  hangings  of 
gilt  paper,  tinsel  and  flowers,  while  the  greatest  din 
imaginable  was  being  made  with  gongs,  bells  and 
musical  instruments.  When  the  people  go  into 
their  temples  to  pray,  they  first  ring  some  bells  in 
front  of  their  god  to  make  him  hear  and  let  him 
know  that  they  are  speaking  to  him." 


MATTERS  AND   THINGS  IN  INDIA.         67 

"  Just  as  mumma  rings  for  Thomas  or  Sarah," 
said  Harry. 

"It  seems  very  much  like  it,"  continued  his 
grandmother,  "and  then  they  repeat  the  name  of 
the  god  a  great  many  times;  one  favorite  name, 
Rama,  they  say  so  fast  that  it  sounds  like  Ram  ram- 
ram.  Do  you  remember  Elijah,  and  the  false  pro 
phets  who  called  upon  Baal  from  morning  until 
noon,  saying,  'O  Baal,  hear  us'?" 

Mrs.  Wildford  had  opened  the  Bible  at  the 
eighteenth  chapter  of  1  Kings,  and  she  read : 
" '  And  they  cried  aloud,  and  cut  themselves,  after 
their  manner,  with  knives  and  lancets,  till  the 
blood  gushed  out  upon  them.' ': 

"Did  they  really  do  that,  grandmamma?"  asked 
Minnie,  in  horror. 

"They  did  a  great  many  dreadful  things,  my 
child,"  was  the  reply,  "  which  they  supposed  would 
please  their  gods,  but  now  the  blessed  light  of  the 
gospel  has  taught  many  of  them  better.  I  have 
sometimes  slept  in  the  court  of  a  heathen  temple, 
Minnie,  when  I  have  been  traveling  in  India,  for 
there  were  no  hotels,  only  rest-houses,  as  they 
were  called,  built  by  government  at  every  twenty- 
five  miles  on  the  highway.  The  Hindoos  will  not 
allow  any  one  to  enter  what  they  call  the  sacred 


68  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

part  of  their  temples,  where  the  idol  sits  on  its 
throne,  but,  with  my  mat  to  lie  upon,  I  have  en 
joyed  a  comfortable  sleep  on  the  floor." 

"  I  should  think  you  would  have  been  afraid," 
said  Minnie,  shuddering. 

"  Of  what,  my  child  ?  Is  not  God  everywhere  ? 
He  is  even  in  a  heathen  temple,  though  they  see 
him  not,  because  their  eyes  are  blinded.  Slaves 
are  fearful,  Minnie,  but  not  those  whom  Christ  has 
made  free." 

Harry  went  quite  to  the  other  extreme,  and  said 
that  he  thought  it  would  be  jolly  to  sleep  in  a 
temple,  and  that  he'd  spend  the  night  in  making 
faces  at  the  hideous-looking  idol.  Which,  as 
Master  Harry  always  went  to  sleep  as  soon  as  his 
head  touched  the  pillow,  was  not  at  all  likely. 

"  I  wish  now  to  tell  you  of  the  different  kinds 
of  false  religion  that  we  found  in  India,"  said  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "all  of  them  opposed  to  the  teachings  of 
the  gospel.  Here  is  another  picture,  Harry.  Can 
you  tell  me  what  it  is  ?" 

"Isn't  it  another  temple,  grandmamma?" 

"Yes;  it  is  a  Mussulman  or  Mohammedan 
temple,  called  a  mosque.  You  will  remember  that 
I  told  you  of  the  followers  of  the  false  prophet, 
Mohammed,  and  that  the  imaum  of  Muscat  wos  a 


MATTERS  AND    Till. MM  IN  INDIA.         69 

Mohammedan,  with  his  numerous  wi\fes  and  his 
house  of  prayer.  These  mosques  are  generally 
small  in  India,  but  they  are  often  very  pretty,  and 
they  usually  have  three  little  domes  on  top  in  place 
of  a  steeple.  On  the  left  side  there  is  always  a 
small  recess  where  they  keep  the  Koran,  or  Mo 
hammedan  Bible,  and  the  front  of  the  mosque  is 
ornamented  with  arabesque,  a  pattern  traced  with 
black  and  gold.  These  Mussulmans  quite  look 
down  upon  the  Hindoos,  and  will  eat  with  none 
but  those  of  their  own  religion.  They  are  very 
devout  in  all  its  observances,  and  I  have  often 
thought  it  very  beautiful  when  at  sunrise  I  heard 
the  cry  from  their  mosques  for  Mohammedans  to 
rise  and  pray,  with  the  words,  '  Prayer  is  better 
than  sleep  !  prayer  is  better  than  sleep  !' '' 

"Were  there  any  other  religions  in  India?" 
asked  Harry. 

"Yes,"  replied  his  grandmother;  "there  were 
the  Parsees,  or  fire  worshipers." 

"Oh,  grandmamma,"  exclaimed  Minnie,  "  what 
dreadful  people !  Did  they  really  throw  them 
selves  and  their  little  children  into  the  fire?" 

"  No,  my  dear  little  granddaughter,  they  did 
nothing  of  the  kind;  they  were  really  very  nice 
and  harmless  people.  You  have  often  noticed  my 


70  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

watching  the  sunset,  Minnie ;  I  love  to  see  the  last 
streaks  of  pink  and  gold  fade  into  twilight,  and 
since  I  have  been  in  India  I  can  never  do  this 
without  thinking  of  the  poor  Parsee  who  kneels 
in  worship  to  the  declining  sun  and  welcomes  the 
sunrise  in  the  same  way.  He  worships  the  un 
known  God  who  thus  shows  his  power  in  his 
works,  and  the  zealous  spirit  of  St.  Paul  would 
have  been  moved  to  say,  'Whom  therefore  ye  igno- 
rantly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you.'" 

"But,  grandmamma,  I  thought  you  said  the 
Parsees  were  fire  worshipers?" 

"  So  they  are,  my  child ;  they  worship  light  in 
every  form,  for  it  represents  to  them  the  invisible 
God,  and  they  profess  to  have  the  sacred  fire  they 
brought  with  them  from  Persia  a  thousand  years 
ago  still  burning  in  one  of  their  temples.  A 
Parsee  servant  will  never  put  out  a  light,  and  he 
would,  therefore,  be  somewhat  expensive  where  gas 
is  used,  but  in  India  they  arrange  the  cocoanut- 
oil  lamps  to  burn  just  the  time  for  which  they  are 
wanted,  and  then  they  go  out  of  themselves.  The 
Parsee  children  are  often  beautiful,  and  always 
richly  dressed,  and  the  Parsee  merchants  bear  a 
better  character  than  any  of  the  Indian  traders. 
The  Parsee  is  distinguished  from  the  Hindoo  by 


MATTERS  AM>    TIIL\(iS  IN  INDIA.         71 

his  peculiar,  flat-looking  turban  of  dark,  spotted 
muslin,  unless  he  is  a  priest,  and  then  he  wears  a 
white  one.  They  do  not  burn  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  as  the  Hindoos  do,  nor  bury  them,  like  the 
Christians,  but  leave  them  in  an  open  place  to  be 
devoured  by  vultures  and  other  birds  of  prey. 
This  is  the  most  revolting  practice  that  I  know  of 
the  Parsees." 

"Oh,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  burying  her 
head  in  her  grand  mam  ma's  lap  to  hide  the  tears 
that  were  trickling  down  her  cheeks,  "  I  am  so 
glad  that  I  live  in  a  Christian  country  !  When 
little  brother  Bennie  died,  it  was  in  the  country, 
you  know,  and  I  remember  all  about  it ;  his  grave 
was  so  pretty,  full  of  green  branches  and  lovely 
flowers,  and  when  they  laid  him  there,  it  seemed 
as  if  he  was  only  going  to  sleep  for  a  while.  But 
to  be  eaten  up  by  those  dreadful  birds !" 

Harry  tried  to  keep  back  his  tears,  because  he 
feared  it  would  not  be  manly  to  cry,  but  he  had 
loved  his  little  brother  very  tenderly,  and  he  could 
not  bear  to  see  his  sister  in  such  distress.  Minnie 
nestled  up  to  the  arm  that  he  put  around  her,  and 
Mrs.  Wildford  folded  both  the  little  ones  in  a  lov 
ing  clasp  as  she  said, 

"  The  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  indeed  full  of 


72  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

cruelty — cruelty  to  the  living  and  dishonor  to  the 
dead — and  we  must  not  sit  idly  weeping  over  them, 
but  do  with  our  might  what  our  hands  find  to  do." 

"  Do  you  think  I  ought  to  go  and  be  a  mission 
ary,  grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie,  in  a  terrified 
tone. 

She  felt  sure  that  she  would  be  eaten  up,  or 
stung  by  scorpions,  or  that  something  dreadful 
would  be  in  store  for  her. 

Grandmamma  laughed : 

" Not  now,  Minnie;  I  think  that  you  and  Harry 
ought  to  be  home  missionaries." 

The  children  looked  very  much  surprised  at  this; 
they  did  not  know  of  any  heathen  at  home,  and 
Harry  had  a  suspicion  that  he  was  not  exactly 
qualified  for  a  teacher. 

"We  can  be  missionaries  in  a  measure,"  con 
tinued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  by  our  daily  example,  our 
patience  in  bearing  little  crosses,  our  forbearance 
under  provocation,  and  then,  too,  those  of  us  who 
stay  at  home  can  help  the  missionaries  who  go  by 
sending  them  whatever  we  can  spare  from  our  many 
comforts." 

"Grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  eagerly,  "I  have 
ten  cents  a  week  to  spend ;  shall  I  give  it  to  yon 
for  the  missionaries  ?" 


MATTERS  AND  THINGS  IN  INDIA.         73 

"  Not  all  of  it,  I  think,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  sup 
pose  you  give  half  of  it,  and  see  how  well  you  can 
do  without  that  ?" 

Minnie  was  rather  disappointed ;  she  thought  it 
would  be  so  much  more  generous  to  give  all  she 
had  at  once. 

"I  have  five  dollars/'  said  Harry,  stoutly.  "I 
mean  to  give  it  all  to  the  heathen,  grandmamma." 

"  You  must  first  ask  your  mother's  permission," 
replied  Mrs.  AVildford,  "and  I  would  advise  you 
to  think  it  well  over,  and  be  quite  sure  that  you 
will  not  regret  it  afterward." 

"  Well,  grandmamma  is  funny  !"  said  Harry  as 
the  children  were  going  down  stairs.  "I  thought 
she  would  like  to  have  all  the  money  we  could 
give  her  for  the  missionaries,  but  I  will  give  my 
five  dollars,  for  I  know  that  mamma  will  let  me." 

"  Yes,"  Mrs.  Bolton  said  ;  "she  was  quite  willing 
that  the  children  should  give  whatever  they  pleased 
of  their  own  to  the  missionaries,  but  they  must  not 
fancy  that  they  were  giving  it  to  grandmamma,  or 
that  grandmamma  had  urged  them  to  do  it,  and 
they  must  remember,  too,  that  the  money  once 
given  could  not  be  taken  back." 

The  children  laughed  at  this  idea,  and  ran  off 
gleefully  to  collect  all  their  funds. 


74  THE    WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  Sarah,"  said  Minnie,  quite  importantly,  "  we  are 
going  to  give  all  our  money  to  the  heathen,  \vho 
are  very  wicked,  and  I  think  you  ought  to  give 
some,  too.  I  heard  mamma  say  the  other  day  that 
you  spent  too  much  on  ribbons." 

"  Well,  Miss  Minnie,"  replied  Sarah,  tossing  her 
head,  "the  money  that  I  spend  is  my  own,  hon 
estly  earned,  and  I  don't  see,  for  my  part,  why 
wicked  people  should  have  money  given  'em.  I'd 
rather  spend  mine  on  my  back." 

"  Dear  me !"  said  Minnie,  in  a  fluster  at  her 
failure ;  "  I  don't  believe  I've  said  it  right.  It's 
the  missionaries  who  teach  the  heathen  that  want 
the  money,  and  you're  real  wicked  yourself,  Sarah, 
not  to  help  them." 

"  I  guess  your  goodness  won't  last  long,  miss," 
replied  the  girl.  "You'll  want  some  candy  or 
oranges,  and  then  you'll  wish  you  had  your 
money." 

Minnie  was  too  indignant  to  speak,  except  to  tell 
Sarah  that  she  was  "  real  hateful,"  which  did  not 
look  much  like  beginning  her  missionary  work  in 
a  right  spirit. 


CHAPTER  V. 

IN  THE  CO  A' CAN. 

VISIT  to  grandmamma's  room  had  now 
come  to  be  a  thing  of  almost  daily  occur 
rence  with  the  little  Boltons,  and  Mrs. 
Wildford  enjoyed  their  eager,  animated 
questions  and  their  evident  interest  in  all  that  re 
lated  to  her  missionary  life.  She  did  not  know  but 
that  these  two  children,  if  spared,  might  yet  go  forth 
bearing  the  precious  seed  of  the  gospel  to  heathen 
lands,  in  answer  to  her  daily  prayer  that  the  Lord 
of  the  harvest  would  send  forth  laborers  into  his 
vineyard. 

So  grandmamma  was  never  too  busy  to  attend 
to  them,  and  never  weary  of  telling  them  all  they 
wanted  to  know,  and  the  children  felt  it  quite  a 
satisfaction  to  be  so  sure  of  this. 

"Now,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  the  evening 
after  they  had  heard  about  the  idols  and  the  false 
religions,  "what  comes  next?" 

"  I  do  not  quite  know,  little  granddaughter,  what 
really  comes  next :  there  is  so  much  to  tell  that  it  is 

75 


76  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

not  easy  to  tell  it  in  regular  order;  but  I  think 
that  this  evening  L  will  give  you  an  account  of 
our  journey  to  the  Concan.  This  is  a  province  not 
very  far  from  Bombay ;  it  lies  between  the  Western 
Ghauts,  a  range  of  mountains,  and  the  Arabian  Sea. 
We  went  there  by  water,  for  Bombay,  you  may  re 
member  my  telling  you,  is  on  a  small  island.  It  is 
now  connected  with  the  main  land  by  a  pier,  or  cause 
way,  but  when  I  was  in  India,  we  could  go  only  by 
water.  This  journey  was  not  for  pleasure,  but  to 
further  our  missionary  work ;  we  went  to  visit  the 
schools  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  to  preach 
to  the  people  whom  we  could  gather  by  the  way. 
We  went  in  what  is  called  a  bundur-boat." 

"  What  was  it  like,  grandmamma  ?"  asked  the 
children. 

"  It  was  more  like  a  gondola  than  anything  else," 
was  the  reply,  "  but  as  this  is  an  Italian  boat,  and 
you  have  never  seen  one,  you  will  want  this  ex 
plained,  too.  Our  boat,  then,  had  one  small  room, 
which  was  given  to  us,  and  outside  there  was  an 
open  space  for  the  lascars,  or  sailors.  Part  of  the 
time  our  boat  was  rowed,  and  part  of  the  time  they 
used  a  sail.  It  only  took  a  few  hours  to  get  to 
Allabag,  the  place  where  we  were  going,  but  to  see 
our  preparations  and  the  things  we  had  to  carry 


TN  THE  CONCAN.  77 

with  us,  you  would  have  supposed  that  we  were 
moving.  We  had  to  take  nearly  everything  we 
ate,  besides  clothes  to  wear  and  things  to  sit  upon 
and  sleep  upon,  things  to  cook  with,  books  to  read 
and  all  our  servants  besides.  These  were  only  four 
in  number." 

"  Only  four !"  repeated  Minnie,  with  very 
large  eyes ;  "  why,  grandmamma,  that  is  all  we 
keep,  and  just  see  how  many  more  there  are 
of  us !" 

"Our  four,"  replied  her  grandmother,  smiling  at 
her  earnestness,  "  were  just  about  equal  to  one  good 
American  domestic.  In  India  even  the  servants 
are  of  various  castes,  or  ranks,  and  one  servant 
will  scorn  to  do  tasks  that  another  will  willingly 
perform.  This  makes  it  necessary  to  have  a  great 
many  of  them,  even  for  a  small  family." 

"  Well,  grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  who  was 
eager  for  adventures,  "you  got  into  this  bundle- 
boat,  or  whatever  it  was ;  what  did  you  do  t\en  ?" 

"  Bundur-boat,  Harry — a  name  given  to  that 
peculiar  kind  of  boat  which  could  be  hired  to  go 
wherever  we  wished.  Our  lascars,  who  were  en 
gaged  to  remain  with  us  during  the  entire  trip, 
were  Mohammedans,  and  their  dark  skins  and 
white  turbans  formed  a  strong  contrast.  I  could 


78  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

not  help  thinking  that  the  yards  of  muslin  twisted 
up  into  turbans  would  have  been  put  to  better  use 
in  covering  their  almost  naked  bodies.  Our  own 
servants  were  required  to  wear  the  ungrekah,  a 
loose  white  robe  with  flowing  sleeves,  as  a  condi 
tion  of  their  entering  our  service." 

"  It  must  have  been  awful  hot  there  to  wear  any 
thing,"  said  Harry,  reflectively.  "I  guess  I  should 
have  wanted  to  kick  all  my  clothes  off  too,  grand 
mamma." 

"  Perhaps,  as  a  witty  writer  once  said,  you  would 
have  liked  to  take  off  your  flesh  and  sit  in  your 
bones,  Harry,  but  we  could  not  have  recognized 
you  as  a  respectable  member  of  society.  One  of 
the  first  results  of  Christian  civilization  is  a  decent 
covering  for  the  body,  but  these  people  could  not 
be  said  to  kick  their  clothes  off,  as  they  never  had 
any  to  put  on — a  custom  that  is  universal  among 
the  heathen  in  warm  countries.  It  was  quite 
amusing  for  us  to  watch  these  sailors  at  their  din 
ners,  which  they  ate  by  themselves,  for  a  Moham 
medan  will  not  eat  with  any  one  of  a  different  re 
ligion." 

"What  did  they  have  for  dinner,  grandmam 
ma  ?"  asked  Harry.  "  Do  they  eat  rats  and  such 
things?" 


7.V  THE  CONCAN.  79 

"  My  little  boy  is  thinking  of  the  Chinese,"  re 
plied  Mrs.  Wildford.  "  Rats  would  be  as  great  an 
abomination  to  the  Mussulmans  as  they  would  be 
to  us.  Their  dinner  consisted  of  rice  and  currie." 

"  Is  that  sweetmeats?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  You  would  scarcely  think  so,"  was  the  reply, 
"  if  you  got  some  of  it  into  your  mouth.  Currie 
is  a  very  sharp  sauce  made  of  peppers  and  spices, 
but  the  people  of  India  could  scarcely  make  a  meal 
without  it,  and  even  the  English  who  go  there  be 
come  very  fond  of  it.  The  rice  was  in  one  large 
dish,  and  the  lascars  sat  cross-legged  around  it, 
each  with  his  sauce-boat  of  currie,  and  making  a 
hole  with  his  finger  in  the  portion  of  rice  nearest 
to  him,  he  poured  in  his  currie  and  ate  all  around 
it,  using  his  fingers  instead  of  fork  or  spoon." 

Minnie  was  looking  very  much  disgusted,  and 
her  grandmother  said,  "I  think  you  would  not 
have  cared  to  share  their  feast,  Minnie,  and  I  am 
quite  sure  that  the  Mussulmans  would  not  have 
asked  you.  We  sailed  directly  across  the  har 
bor  of  Bombay,  which  is  very  beautiful,  with  a 
view  of  the  Ghauts  mountains  in  the  distance, 
and  then  we  were  rowed  up  an  arm  of  the  sea  un 
til  we  came  to  the  town,  or  village,  of  Allabag, 
that  belonged  to  a  part  of  the  Concan.  This  was 


80  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

governed  by  a  rajah  and  his  dewan,  or  prime 
minister.  When  we  reached  our  landing-place, 
the  boat  could  not  go  within  several  yards  of  the 
shore,  and  a  stout  lascar  took  me  in  his  arms,  while 
another  seized  your  grandfather,  and  wading  more 
than  knee-deep  in  the  water,  they  carried  us  safely 
to  land.  We  went  directly  to  our  bungalow, 
which  the  servants  soon  got  in  readiness  for  us,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  we  were  settled  at  housekeep 
ing  in  a  place  we  had  never  seen  before." 

"  Then  the  bungalow  was  the  house,  wasn't  it  ?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  Yes ;  a  low  Indian  house,  with  a  thatched 
roof,  over  which  flowering  vines  climbed  and  made 
it  very  pretty.  I  did  not  know  until  after  our  re 
turn  that  the  thatched  roof  and  the  vines  were  favor 
ite  nests  for  a  small  green  snake  whose  bite  is  very 
poisonous.  I  was  fortunate  enough  never  to  see  or 
feel  one.  Our  bungalow  had  a  verandah  of  bam 
boo  all  around  it,  and  a  bamboo  thicket  was  close 
to  the  house.  The  foliage  of  the  bamboo  is  very 
pretty,  and  forms  a  sort  of  bower  wherever  it  grows. 
There  were  cocoanut,  peepul  and  betel  trees  at  the 
back  of  the  house ;  the  leaves  of  the  peepul  are  very 
dark,  so  that  many  of  these  trees  together  have  a 
gloomy  look.  The  betel  is  a  tall,  slender  species 


iy  THE  CONCAN.  81 

of  palm,  with  a  beautifully  white  bark,  .and  the 
nuts  are  used  by  the  natives  for  chewing,  as  tobacco 
is  with  us." 

"  Were  there  banyan  trees,  too,  grandmamma? — 
those  large,  queer  trees  that  grow  with  their 
branches  taking  root  in  the  ground  ?  I've  seen 
pictures  of  them." 

"  Not  near  our  bungalow,  Harry,  but  the  banyan 
tree  is  quite  common  in  India.  I  once  saw  one 
that  covered  three  acres  of  ground  and  formed  a 
grove  of  itself." 

"  How  pleasant  it  must  have  been  to  walk  in  it," 
said  Minnie,  "  when  it  was  so  warm  !" 

"  It  was  not  a  very  pleasant  place  to  be  in,"  re 
plied  her  grandmother,  "because  it  was  not  clean. 
The  banyan  grove  was  filled  with  multitudes  of 
birds  who  kept  it  very  dirty ;  they  ate  the  small 
figs  that  grow  on  the  tree,  and  scattered  them  all 
over  the  ground.  Places  where  birds  congregate 
are  never  clean,  and  I  had  no  desire,  Minnie,  to 
cool  myself  off  under  the  banyan  tree.  It  is  often 
hard  to  tell  the  original  tree  from  the  branches ; 
sometimes  it  dies,  but  there  are  so  many  other  roots 
from  the  branches  that  it  is  not  missed.  Animals 
frequently  eat  their  outer  roots,  and  sometimes  a 
fence  is  raised  to  protect  the  banyan  The  Hindoos 


82  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

look  upon  the  tree  as  sacred,  and  they  plant  it 
sometimes  when  a  child  is  born  to  them  or  a  great 
event  happens;  in  that  case  it  is  always  protected 
by  a  fence.  We  liked  our  bungalow  very  much," 
continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  for  it  was  pleasantly 
situated  on  the  seashore,  and  we  had  a  nice  cool 
breeze.  The  country  around  was  very  pretty,  and 
it  seemed  much  pleasanter  than  Bombay." 

"Then  why  didn't  you  stay  there,  grandmam 
ma?"  asked  Harry.  "I  would  have  stayed." 

"  Then  you  would  not  be  fit  for  a  missionary, 
Harry,  if  you  stayed  only  where  it  was  most  pleas 
ant.  We  had  been  sent  to  Bombay,  and  our  home 
and  our  work  were  there ;  we  never  thought  of 
changing,  but  we  enjoyed  all  the  pleasant  things 
that  came  to  us  in  the  way  of  duty.  The  very 
evening  that  we  arrived  at  Allabag,  we  had  a  mes 
sage  from  the  dewan,  who,  I  told  you,  was  tin 
rajah's  prime  minister,  that  he  would  be  pleased  to 
receive  a  visit  from  us,  and  the  next  morning  a 
palanquin  was  sent  for  me  and  a  horse  for  your 
grandfather.  The  dewan's  house  was  built  around 
a  court  with  a  fountain  in  the  middle,  and  there 
was  a  fine  garden  which  we  had  plenty  of  time  to 
examine,  for  the  great  man  was  a  long  while  making 
his  appearance.  A  guard  of  soldiers  in  white 


l.l.KI'HA.NT  WITH    HOWDAH   ANI>  TRAPPINGS. 


p.  S3. 


hV  THE  CONCAN.  83 

dresses,  with  swords,  and  shields,  suid  guns,  was 
stationed  near  the  house,  and  one  of  the  officers 
came  forward  very  politely  to  show  us  the  grounds. 
And  now,  Harry,"  continued  his  grandmother, 
*'  I  think  you  will  be  pleased,  for  almost  the  first 
things  we  saw  were  a  number  of  elephants  in  a 
cocoanut  grove,  fastened  with  iron  chains  to  the 
trees.  There  must  have  been  eight  or  ten  of 
them." 

"  Did  they  look  like  the  elephants  in  the  menag 
eries?"  asked  Harry,  with  great  interest. 

"Very  much  as  one  horse  looks  like  another," 
was  the  reply,  "  but  we  do  not  see  quite  so  many 
of  them  at  once  in  a  menagerie.  This  grove  might 
have  been  called  the  dewan's  stable,  for  his  ele 
phants  were  used  in  place  of  horses  on  state  occa 
sions,  and  we  were  told  that  they  had  very  rich 
trappings  and  howdahs." 

"  I  know  what  they  are,"  said  Harry,  eagerly — 
"the  little  houses  on  their  backs  that  people 
sit  in.  Oh,  grandmamma,  didn't  you  get  on  an 
elephant?" 

"  No,  Harry ;  I  had  not  the  least  ambition  to  be 
perched  up  so  high,  but  I  can  read  to  you  what 
Bishop  Heber  says  of  riding  on  an  elephant;  he 
tried  it." 


84  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

The  children  were  all  attention  while  Mrs. 
Wildfbrd  read  from  the  "Journey  through  India:" 

"'At  Barrackpoor,  for  the  first  time,  I  mounted 
an  elephant,  the  motion  of  which  I  thought  far 
from  disagreeable,  though  very  different  from  that 
of  a  horse.  As  the  animal  moves  both  feet  on  the 
same  side  at  once,  the  sensation  is  like  that  of  being 
carried  on  a  man's  shoulders.  A  full-grown  ele 
phant  carries  two  persons  in  the  howdah,  besides 
the  mohout,  or  driver,  who  sits  on  his  neck,  and  a 
servant  on  the  crupper  behind  with  an  umbrella. 
I  was  amused  by  one  peculiarity  which  I  had  never 
before  heard  of:  while  the  elephant  is  going  on,  a 
man  walks  by  his  side,  telling  him  where  to  tread, 
bidding  him  'take  care ;  step  out/  warning  him  that 
the  road  is  rough,  slippery,  etc.,  all  which  the  ani 
mal  is  supposed  to  understand  and  take  his  mea 
sures  accordingly.  The  mohout  says  nothing,  but 
guides  him  by  pressing  his  legs  to  his  neck  on  the 
side  to  which  he  wishes  him  to  turn,  urging  him 
forward  with  the  point  of  a  formidable  goad,  and 
stopping  him  by  a  blow  on  the  forehead  with  the 
butt  end  of  the  same  instrument.' 

"  The  bishop  also  saw  twenty  elephants  bathing 
at  once,"  she  continued,  "and  he  speaks  of  the 
noise  they  made  as  like  the  blowing  of  a  whale." 


IN  THE  CONCAN.  85 

"  Were  there  any  more  animals  in  that  place, 
grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  Yes,  my  dear,  there  were  several  kinds  in  dif 
ferent  parts  of  the  grounds." 

"  Tigers  ?"  asked  Harry,  with  fresh  interest. 

"  No,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford  ;  "  I  did  not  see  a 
tiger  all  the  time  that  I  was  in  India,  and  I  cannot 
say  that  I  felt  at  all  unhappy  about  it.  I  believe 
that  very  few  people  do  see  them,  except  those  who 
go  on  tiger-hunts.  Quite  at  the  other  end  of  the 
dewan's  garden  there  were  a  number  of  monkeys, 
also  fastened  with  chains.  These  kept  up  a  great 
chattering,  and  looked  and  acted  very  much  like 
human  beings.  There  were  some  beautiful  deer, 
too,  in  another  place,  and  their  large,  soft  eyes 
were  fixed  upon  us  so  long  as  we  remained  in  sight. 
Close  to  the  house  were  large  cages  in  which  were 
many  beautiful  tropical  birds  that  flew  about  and 
seemed  disposed  to  show  their  fine  plumage  to  the 
best  advantage.  These  birds  had  so  many  bright 
colors  about  them  that  they  were  more  like  living 
rainbows  than  anything  else." 

"  Why  didn't  you  bring  some  of  these  beautiful 
birds  home  with  you,  grandmamma?"  said  Minnie; 
"  I  should  like  to  have  one  very  much." 

"  I  had  a  great  many  more  useful  things  to  bring 


86  1HE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

over  the  ocean,"  was  the  reply,  "  and  a  bir  j  that 
was  alive  then  would  not  do  my  little  grand 
daughter  much  good  now.  Besides,  dear,  I  did 
not  know  ther  that  I  should  ever  have  a  little 
granddaughter.  Are  you  satisfied  with  my  rea 
sons,  Minnie?" 

"She  is  trying  not  to  laugh,"  shouted  Harry, 
"  but  I  see  the  dimples  coming !  What  a  little 
goose  you  are,  Minnie !" 

Grandmamma  looked  very  lovingly  on  the  little 
goose  as  she  continued:  "When  we  had  looked  at 
all  that  was  to  be  seen  outside,  the  dewan  appeared 
and  led  us  into  the  reception-room,  that  opened  on 
the  court,  but  we  did  not  see  much  of  his  house, 
as  he  was  a  Hindoo,  and  the  Hindoos  do  not  like 
to  have  strangers  in  their  homes.  This  dewan  was 
also  a  Brahmin,  or  priest,  which  is  the  very  highest 
rank  among  the  Hindoos.  The  Brahmins  are  some 
times  worshiped  as  gods,  even  while  living,  and 
when  they  appear  abroad,  the  poor  ignorant  people 
fall  down  on  their  knees  before  them.  But  the  in 
fluence  of  Christianity  has,  in  a  great  measure,  de 
stroyed  their  power  in  many  parts  of  India,  and  a 
Brahmin  of  the  present  day  is  not  at  all  the  high 
and  mighty  personage  that  people  thought  him  when 
I  was  in  India.  The  Brahmins  and  the  men  of 


IN  THE  CONCAN.  87 

their  family,  or  caste,  wear  a  peculiar  cord,  called 
the  Brahrainical  string;  this  is  made  of  twisted 
cotton,  and  passes  around  the  neck  and  under  the 
left  arm.  They  are  the  best  educated  and  most  in 
telligent  of  the  Hindoos,  and  some  of  them  are  very 
learned.  The  Brahmin  whom  we  went  to  see  was 
a  tall,  fine-looking  man,  quite  light  colored  for  a 
Hindoo,  but  he  was  disfigured  by  the  marks  of 
his  god  on  his  forehead." 

"  What  was  that,  grandmamma  ?  Had  he  cut 
himself?" 

"  No,  my  child  ;  he  had  painted  cross-lines  on  his 
forehead  with  such  clay  as  this." 

Mrs.  Wildford  showed  the  children  what  looked 
like  a  stick  of  gray  chalk,  and  then  continued  : 

"  The  Jews,  you  know,  wore  phylacteries — bands 
of  ribbon  or  linen  on  which  were  written  words 
of  Scripture;  and  what  is  the  beautiful  verse, 
Minnie,  that  you  learned  last  Sunday?" 

The  little  girl  repeated  :  "And  they  shall  see  his 
face,  and  his  name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads." 

"  This  is  from  the  Revelation  of  St.  John,"  said 
her  grandmother,  "and  in  another  chapter  the 
mark  of  the  beast  is  spoken  of.  It  was  this  that 
the  poor  Brahmin  bore,  and  oh  how  I  wished,  as 
I  looked  upon  him,  that  the  mark  of  Christ  might 


88  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA 

be  written  in  its  place.  When  we  had  entered  the 
square  hall  that  opened  upon  the  court,  we  sat 
down  on  an  English  sofa,  while  the  dewan  placed 
himself  in  a  large  arm-chair  near  us.  The  furni 
ture  was  all  English  ;  there  was  nothing  Oriental 
but  the  court  and  the  fountain  and  the  dewan 
himself.  By  this  time  we  could  speak  the  language 
quite  well,  and  we  were  very  glad  to  be  able  to 
converse  with  the  Hindoo  priest.  He  began  by 
asking  us  where  we  lived  and  what  had  brought 
us  to  India.  We  described  America  to  him  as 
plainly  as  we  could  until  he  seemed  to  get  some 
idea  of  it,  and  then  we  told  him  how  we  had  been 
sent  as  missionaries  to  Bombay  to  preach  to  the 
Hindoos  Christ  crucified,  and  to  teach  the  people 
also  many  things  besides  that  would  be  useful  for 
them  to  know." 

"  But  didn't  he  get  angry,  grandmamma,  when 
he  was  a  priest,  and  thought  so  much  of  his  gods, 
to  have  you  talk  about  teaching  the  people  another 
religion  ?" 

"  No,  Harry ;  he  showed  no  signs  of  anger,  but 
heard  us  very  patiently,  and  seemed  quite  inter 
ested  in  what  we  said.  We  spoke  the  truth  with 
out  fear,  for  we  felt  that  He  who  was  with  us  was 
mightier  far  than  all  who  could  be  against  us,  but 


7.\   THE  CONCAN.  89 

we  always  endeavored  to  speak  it  gently  and  i-our- 
teously,  and  this  won  for  us  a  hearing  instead  of 
rousing  anger  in  those  who  differed  with  us.  The 
dewan  saw  that  we  were  very  much  in  earnest ;  he 
knew  that  we  had  left  our  home  and  friends  and 
journeyed  thousands  of  miles,  not  for  gain  to  our 
selves,  like  the  merchants  who  went  there,  but  to 
do  what  we  believed  our  God  required  of  us,  and 
perhaps  the  poor  man  wondered  if  he  could  do  all 
this  for  his  god." 

"Was  he  like  the  other  man,  grandmamma,  that 
you  went  to  see  when  mamma  screamed  so?" 

"  No,  Minnie ;  he  was  a  much  finer-looking  man 
than  the  imaum  of  Muscat,  and  more  intelligent. 
When  he  asked  us  what  else  we  had  to  teach,  your 
grandfather  gave  him  a  geography  in  the  Hindos- 
tanee  language,  which  he  read,  and  with  which  he 
seemed  very  much  pleased,  and  then  we  told  him 
that  I  would  teach  the  women  how  to  sew  and 
to  make  their  homes  more  comfortable.  He  did 
not  object  to  this,  but  asked  us  what  brought 
us  to  the  rajah's  dominions  when  we  had  been 
sent  to  Bombay.  We  told  him  that  we  came  to 
look  at  the  mission  schools  there  and  see  how  they 
prospered,  and  to  talk  with  the  people  whenever  we 
could  get  the  chance.  The  dewan  smiled,  perhaps 


90  THE   WILL  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

because  we  did  not  try  to  deceive  him  in  this  mat 
ter,  and  said  that  his  master,  the  rajah,  would 
probably  send  for  us.  We  hoped  that  he  would, 
for  we  were  quite  anxious  to  see  his  majesty  and  as 
many  of  the  people  in  authority  as  possible." 

"  I  think  you  were  very  brave,"  said  Harry. 
"  How  did  you  know  but  that  they  would  kill  you  ?" 

"Harry,"  said  his  grandmother,  "did  you  ever 
hear  of  the  old  colored  man  who  was  preaching  on 
faith,  and  in  explaining  it  to  his  hearers  said  that 
if  he  saw  in  the  Bible  that  God  wanted  him  to 
jump  through  a  stone  wall,  he  should  go  right  to 
work  and  jump  at  it?  Jumping  at  it,  he  said,  be 
longed  to  him,  but  going  through  it  belonged  to 
God.  We  were  jumping  at  our  stone  wall,  and 
like  the  old  colored  man,  we  left  the  going  through 
it  to  God.  We  asked  the  Brahmin  if  he  would 
accept  one  of  our  Shasters,  and  he  seemed  to  take 
with  pleasure  the  Hindostanee  Bible  that  we  had 
brought  with  the  fear  that  we  might  have  to  take 
it  back  with  us.  It  was  sowing  seed,  however 
rocky  the  soil,  and  we  knew  that  God,  and  God 
alone,  could  give  the  increase.  Soon  after  this  a 
servant  brought  in  a  small  silver  dish  carefully 
covered,  and  taking  a  very  small  spoon  that  came 
with  it,  the  dewan  dipped  out  a  few  drops  of 


;.v  Tin:  rnycAX.  91 


attar  of  roses  aud  put  it  on  our  handkerchiefs. 
He  then  took  a  beautiful  silver  bottle  filled  with 
rose-water  and  sprinkled  us  with  this  through  a 
small  hole  in  the  stopper." 

"  How  very  funny  !"  exclaimed  the  children  ; 
"  what  did  he  do  such  queer  things  for,  grand 
mamma?" 

"  This  was  considered  a  polite  attention,"  re 
plied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  quite  a  mark  of  re- 
spect  in  India.  Here  is  one  of  the  rose-water 
bottles,  with  the  hole  in  the  stopper  for  sprinkling  ; 
your  mother  broke  the  mate  to  it  when  she  was  a 
little  girl.  This,  you  see,  is  of  very  thin  blue 
glass,  with  an  arabesque  pattern  in  gold  ;  the  color 
is  very  beautiful  when  I  hold  it  up  to  the  light. 
Here  is  a  bottle  for  attar  of  roses." 

The  children  examined  with  interest  what  looked 
like  a  little  tube  of  thick  glass  with  gilt  stars  on 
it  and  something  like  quicksilver  inside  that  ran 
about  three-quarters  of  the  length. 

"That,"  said  their  grandmother,  "is  the  little 
vessel  that  holds  the  precious  attar,  and  see  how 
carefully  the  stopper  is  protected  with  all  this  kid. 
The  attar  is  very  powerful,  but  it  will  evaporate  un 
less  carefully  corked.  I  have  had  this  many  years, 
but  you  will  see  that  it  is  quite  strcng  yet." 


92  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

Harry  inhaled  the  attar  to  its  full  extent,  and 
then  called  it  "  horrid  stuff/'  while  a  very  slight 
whiff  of  it  made  his  delicate  little  sister  feel  quite 
faint. 

"Why  do  you  call  it  precious,  grandmamma  ?" 
asked  Minnie;  "isn't  there  plenty  of  it  in  India?" 

"No,  my  dear,"  was  the  reply;  "it  would  be 
necessary  to  grow  nothing  but  roses  there  to  have 
it  plentiful,  and  I  am  sure  the  poor  people  would 
not  give  up  their  rice  for  attar  of  roses.  Shall  I 
tell  you  something  about  this  attar,  and  how  it  is 
made?" 

"  Please  do,  grandmamma !"  was  the  animated 
reply. 

"Ghazepoor,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "is 
the  rose  district  of  India.  I  never  was  there 
myself;  it  is  a  long  distance  from  Bombay,  in 
the  northern  part  of  India.  It  is  quite  a  large 
town,  and  in  and  around  it  are  acres  and  acres 
of  beautiful  roses,  which  are  cultivated  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  making  attar  of  roses  and  rose- 
water.  The  rose-water  is  made  by  distilling  the 
roses,  and  then  it  is  put  into  large  jars  without 
any  covers  and  set  out  in  the  night  air.  By  morn 
ing  there  is  a  thick  oil,  just  like  the  creani  on  milk, 
which  floats  on  the  top  and  is  skimnW  carefully 


IN  THE  CONCAN.  93 

off  and  put  by  itself.  This  is  the  attar,  and  rose- 
water  that  has  been  skimmed  does  not  bring  so 
high  a  price  as  the  other.  But  it  is  really  very 
good,  though  a  quart  of  the  best  could  be  had, 
when  I  was  in  India,  for  about  twenty-five  cents. 
You  can  understand  why  attar  should  be  precious 
when  I  tell  you  that  two  hundred  thousand  roses 
will  only  make  a  small  quantity  of  it.  This  may 
be  called  a  sinful  luxury,  when  we  think  how  many 
starving  bodies  and  souls  the  cost  of  it  would  help 
to  feed.  The  ceremony  of  perfuming  visitors  sig 
nifies  that  the  vi<it  is  drawing  to  a  close,  and  we 
took  leave  of  the  dewan  with  many  thanks  for  his 
kind  permission  to  go  about  where  we  pleased  with 
out  fear  of  being  molested." 


CHAPTER   VI. 
MISSIONARY    WORK. 


HERE  was  a  great  commotion  in  the  Bol- 

>\ 

ton  house,  a  sound  of  scampering,  laugh 


ing  and  screaming  from  the  lower  regions, 
and  such  an  excitement  generally  that  Mrs. 
Bolton  went  to  the  head  of  the  stairs  and  de 
manded  the  cause  of  the  disturbance. 

"  Oh,  mamma,"  cried  Harry,  who  could  scarcely 
speak  for  laughing,  "do  come  down  here  in  the 
dining-room !" 

"  Bow  wow  !"  said  something. 

"  Ugh !"  screamed  Minnie. 

"He's  so  cunning!  Please  come  and  look  at 
him." 

Very  much  surprised  at  such  extraordinary 
sounds,  and  wondering  what  fresh  piece  of  mischief 
Harry  had  been  guilty  of,  his  mother  entered  the 
dining-room,  to  find  Minnie  standing  on  a  chair 
with  her  skirts  gathered  about  her,  Harry  on  his 
hands  and  knees,  very  red  in  the  face,  a  black 

94 


MISSIONARY   WORK.  95 

Newfoundland  puppy  plunging  about  wi>h  very 
awkward  antics,  and  a  dirty-looking  boy  with  his 
hands  in  his  pockets  and  his  cap  far  down  on  his 
head  gazing  at  the  party  without  a  smile. 

"  What  does  all  this  mean  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Bolton 
as  the  puppy  rushed  at  her  with  a  fresh  bark  of 
welcome.  "  Where  did  this  dog  and  this  boy 
come  from  ?" 

"  I'm  afraid  of  him,"  said  Minnie,  nestling  up 
to  her  mother. 

"  Then  go  up  stairs,  daughter,"  was  the  reply ; 
"  he  certainly  will  not  hurt  any  one,  but  he  is  mak 
ing  a  great  deal  of  noise  in  the  house,  and  I  am 
afraid  that  he  will  disturb  your  grandmother. 
How  came  you  to  bring  him  here,  Harry  ?" 

"Why,  mamma,  I  met  this  boy  as  I  was  coming 
home  from  school,  and  when  I  stopped  to  look  at 
the  dog,  he  told  me  that  he  wanted  to  sell  him. 
You'll  let  me  keep  him  here,  won't  you?" 

"  But  I  cannot  give  you  any  money  at  present  to 
pay  for  the  dog,"  said  his  mother.  "  What  does 
(lie  boy  ask  for  him?" 

"  Five  dollars,"  replied  that  individual,  promptly, 
with  his  keen  eyes  fixed  upon  the  lady. 

"  I  am  g<»ing  to  pay  for  him  myself,  mamma," 
continued  Harrv,  eagerly,  "  with  that  five  dollars 


96  THE   WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

Uncle  Harry  gave  me.  Say  '  Yes/  will  you,  mam 
ma?" 

"  Why,  Harry/'  replied  his  mother,  "  what  are 
you  thinking  of?  You  gave  your  five  dollars  to 
the  missionaries  a  week  ago.  You  will  remember 
that  I  told  you  to  think  it  well  over,  but  you  felt 
quite  sure  that  you  were  willing  to  do  without 
it." 

"Hang  the  missionaries!"  burst  from  Harry's 
lips,  and  then  he  stood  the  picture  of  shame  under 
his  mother's  reproving  gaze. 

The  young  dog  merchant  burst  into  a  loud 
laugh,  whistled  to  the  puppy,  and  both  disappeared 
so  quickly  that  the  next  moment  there  was  nothing 
but  the  wag  of  a  tail  in  the  distance. 

"  Harry,"  said  Mrs.  Bolton,  "  how  would  your 
grandmother  feel  to  hear  what  you  have  said  ?" 

"  Please  don't  tell  her,  mamma,"  pleaded  Harry, 
fairly  crying.  "I  didn't  mean  it,  indeed  I  didn't. 
I  had  forgotten  all  about  giving  my  five  dollars  to 
the  missionaries,  and  you  don't  know  how  I  wanted 
that  dog.  I  was  going  to  call  him  Wag  because 
ne  shakes  himself  around  so  funnily,  and  I  meant 
to  teach  him  ever  so  many  tricks.  He  can  beg 
beautifully  now  on  his  hind  paws." 

"  I  am  very  sorry  that  all  this  has  happened,"  con- 


MISSIONARY   WORK.  97 

tinued  his  mother,  gravely,  "  and  I  scarcely  know 
what  is  best  to  do  about  it.  It  is  no  generosity 
or  charity  to  give  all  that  one  has  on  the  impulse 
of  the  moment  and  then  want  it  back  again.  I 
have  a  great  mind  to  return  your  five  dollars, 
Harry,  from  my  own  purse,  and  forbid  your  giving 
anything  away  for  some  time  to  come." 

"Mamma,"  said  Harry,  mournfully,  "I'll  try 
never  to  do  so  again,  but  it  would  be  so  mean  to 
take  back  the  money.  Please  don't  make  me;  I 
really  don't  care  so  much  about  Wag,  after  all." 

Mrs.  Bolton  sent  Harry  up  stairs  for  the  present, 
and  said  that  she  would  decide  what  it  was  best  to 
do. 

Mrs.  Wild  ford  told  the  children  that  evening 
that  she  was  quite  ready  to  go  on  with  her  visit  to 
Allabag,  but  it  was  with  a  very  shamefaced  air 
that  Harry  took  his  usual  seat.  He  wondered,  if 
grandmamma  should  hear  of  what  he  said,  whether 

she  would  have  him  in  her  room  at  all. 

• 

"Did  they  have  schools  in  that  place  like  the 
schools  in  Bombay,  grandmamma,"  asked  Minnie, 
"  where  the  children  were  taught  about  the  Sa 
viour?" 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply ;  "  there  were  two  such 
schools  at  Allabag,  and  very  pleasant  we  found  it 


98  THE   WI1  DFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

to  visit  them  and  see  what  progress  the  scholars 
made  in  the  word  of  God.  They  could  say  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Ten  Commandments  in 
Mahratta,  with  many  verses  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  I  gathered  several  of  the  little  girls  about  me 
one  morning  at  the  end  of  the  verandah,  and  heard 
them  their  lessons  and  talked  to  them  of  the  blessed 
Saviour  who  loved  them  and  wished  them  to  be 
his  children.  The  teacher's  house,  where  the 
school  was  held,  was  in  one  of  the  busy  streets  of 
the  town,  where  people  were  constantly  passing, 
and  soon  a  wondering  crowd  of  women  were  gath 
ered  about  the  verandah,  the  most  of  them  carry 
ing  burdens  of  fruit,  water,  fish  or  rice.  There 
must  have  been  twenty  of  them  standing  there  and 
looking  at  me  in  perfect  astonishment.  '  Why, 
why,'  they  exclaimed,  at  length,  'she  is  a  wo 
man  !' » 

"  What  did  they  think  you  were,  grandmamma?" 
asked  Harry,  laughing. 

"  They  could  not  tell,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford, 
"  for  they  had  never  seen  a  white  woman  before ; 
the  teachers  at  Allabag  were  all  men,  and  they 
could  not  understand  how  a  woman  should  know 
anything.  The  poor  things  had  not  been  allowed 
to  learn,  for  their  schools  were  only  for  boys.  I 


MISS fo.\. Iff}'    WORK.  99 

began  to  speak  to  them  in  their  own  language, 
and  their  amazement  increased.  I  asked  them  if 
they  could  read.  '  Oh  no !'  they  replied,  '  we  can 
not  read  ;  we  are  women.'  It  was  so  jad  that  they 
should  think  this  reason  enough  for  their  ignorance, 
and  I  told  them  that  I  could  read  in  Mahratta, 
though  I  did  not  know  a  word  of  their  language 
before  I  came  to  the  country.  They  could  scarcely 
believe  it,  and  asked  me  where  I  lived.  I  told 
them  that  I  lived  across  the  ocean,  but  that  I  had 
heard  in  my  distant  home  how  little  they  knew, 
and  how  they  worshiped  gods  of  wood  and  stone 
and  did  many  foolish  and  wicked  things,  and  I  felt 
so  sorry  for  them  that  I  left  my  native  land  and 
took  that  long  journey  to  tell  them  of  the  true  God 
who  sent  his  only  Son  to  die  for  them." 

"  What  did  the  poor  Hindoo  women  say,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Minnie,  who  was  very  much  in 
terested  in  what  she  called  "  beginning  to  be  a  mis 
sionary." 

"They  said  very  little  except  that  they  did  not 
know  of  any  of  these  things :  no  one  had  ever  told 
them ;  and  taking  their  burdens  up  again,  they 
called  me  '  Madam  Sahib/  which  meant  the  wife  of 
the  master,  and  asked  me  if  I  would  teach  them 
more  to-morrow.  You  may  be  sure  that  I 


100  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

consented,  and  I  turned  again  to  my  little  scholars 
with  a  thankful  heart  that  God  had  given  me  work 
to  do  for  him.  While  I  was  speaking  to  the  wo 
men,  your  dear  grandfather  had  been  preaching  to 
a  group  of  men  at  the  other  end  of  the  verandah, 
and  their  dusky  faces  were  lifted  to  him  with  every 
mark  of  attention.  It  was  blessed  work,  we  said 
as  we  went  back  to  our  bungalow,  and  by  God's 
grace  we  would  only  lay  it  down  with  our  lives." 

A  tear  fell  on  Minnie's  hand,  that  lay  clasped 
in  her  grandmamma's.  Only  one  of  the  two  had 
been  laid  to  sleep  in  the  land  of  their  adoption, 
and  the  other,  with  shattered  health  and  hopes, 
waited  to  join  him  in  that  better  land  where  none 
would  go  out  again  for  ever. 

"  I  must  tell  you,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  pres 
ently,  "  of  our  visit  to  a  native  school,  which  was, 
of  course,  quite  different  from  the  mission  school, 
for  only  boys  were  received  there,  and  the  word  of 
God  was  not  taught.  This  school  was  in  a  native 
hut  with  a  thatched  roof,  and  nothing  inside  in 
the  way  of  seats  or  furniture.  The  boys  sat  down 
on  the  floor,  which  was  of  earth,  and  the  teacher 
stood  before  them  with  a  cane  to  keep  them  in 
order.  Their  books  were  made  of  leaves  from  the 
palm  tree  tied  together  with  a  string  of  the  same, 


MISSIONARY   WORK.  101 

and  the  words  were  scratched  on  them  with  a 
sharp  steel  instrument.  Their  lessons  were  writ 
ten  in  rhyme,  and  they  sang  them  all  in  saying 
them." 

"  I'd  like  that,"  said  Harry;  "  it  must  have  been 
fun." 

"  It  made  a  great  noise,"  continued  his  grand 
mamma,  "  and  nearly  deafened  us  while  we  were 
trying  to  catch  what  they  said.  These  boys  seemed 
to  be  diligent  scholars,  but  it  was  very  sad  to  see 
only  boys  there.  In  these  days  of  darkness  many 
of  the  parents,  if  asked  to  send  their  daughters  to 
school,  would  have  answered,  'What  for?  Why 
should  a  girl  learn  to  read?  We  want  our  women 
to  take  care  of  the  house  and  cook  rice  for  us ;  if 
they  get  silly  notions  about  reading  into  their  heads, 
they  will  not  do  their  work  well/  Even  the 
mothers  would  have  joined  in  this,  but  there  is  a 
great  improvement  in  this  matter  now,  and  the 
light  of  the  gospel  has  freed  many  poor  women 
from  such  slavery.  Do  you  remember  that  verse 
of  the  Bible  which  says  that  God  giveth  wisdom 
to  the  simple?  There  is  a  custom  in  these  Hindoo 
schools  that  Christians  might  follow  to  advantage 
by  praying  to  the  true  God.  Before  the  boys  be 
gan  their  lessons  they  were  made  to  draw  a  figure 


102  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

in  the  sand,  on  which  they  wrote  instead  of  slates 
or  a  blackboard,  and  this  figure  was  the  trunk  of 
an  elephant.  When  they  had  done  this,  they  made 
a  low  bow  or  salaam,  and  began  to  pray  to  the  god 
which  this  figure  represented — a  monstrosity  with 
the  body  of  a  boy  and  the  head  of  an  elephant. 
This  god  is  called  Gunputti  or  Ganesha,  and  as  he 
is  the  god  of  wisdom,  the  boys  were  praying  to  him 
to  make  them  wise  through  the  lessons  they  were 
to  recite  that  day." 

Harry  said  that  he  thought  they  must  have  been 
very  silly  boys  to  say  their  prayers  to  the  trunk  of 
an  elephant,  and  he  was  quite  surprised  when  his 
grandmamma  told  him  that  they  were  not  half  so 
silly  as  those  boys  who  had  been  brought  up  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  yet  often  neglected 
to  pray  at  all. 

"  We  kept  our  bundur-boat  with  us,"  continued 
Mrs.  Wildford,  "  during  the  fortnight  that  we  spent 
in  the  Concan,  and  making  Allabag  our  head 
quarters,  we  \vould  often  sail  or  row  higher  up  the 
arm  of  the  sea  on  which  the  town  stands  to  visit 
other  towns  and  villages.  They  were  very  much 
alike,  and  almost  the  same  sort  of  crowd  came  out 
to  gaze  at  us  at  every  place.  Among  these  there 
were  always  beggars,  and  a  Hindoo  boggar  is 


MISSIONARY   WORK.  103 

quite  different  from  anything  we  see  in  this 
country." 

"What  is  he  like,  grandmamrna?" 

"  Like  something  so  dreadful,  Minnie,  that  it 
would  make  you  quite  sick  to  look  at  one.  These 
poor  people  are  subject  to  a  great  many  terrible 
diseases,  and  a  Hindoo  thus  afflicted  considers 
himself  set  up  in  business  at  once.  He  has  no 
further  need  of  working,  but  goes  about  making  a 
show  of  what  we  should  think  he  would  endeavor 
to  hide.  The  more  disgusting  the  disease  or  de 
formity,  the  higher  the  value  he  sets  upon  himself, 
and  if  people  do  not  choose  to  give  in  what  he  con 
siders  a  suitable  proportion,  he  becomes  very  angry. 
There  are  a  great  many  lepers  in  India — you  have 
read  in  the  Bible  of  that  dreadful  disease,  which 
always  shut  the  afflicted  one  out  from  others  of  his 
kind,  and  which  seems  peculiar  to  Eastern  countries — 
many  blind  and  many  deformed  persons,  and  when 
ever  I  saw  some  of  these  in  the  crowd  about  us,  I 
thought  of  those  blessed  lips  that,  nearly  two  thou 
sand  years  ago,  preached  to  just  such  as  these. 
Sometimes  we  would  walk  from  one  place  to  another 
if  the  distance  were  short,  and  then  the  people  came 
out  to  stare  at  me." 

"  But  why  did  they  stare  at  you,  grandmamma?" 


104  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

asked  Minnie.  "  Was  it  because  they  did  not 
think  it  right  for  a  lady  to  be  walking  in  the 
street?" 

"  It  was  because  they  had  never  seen  a  white 
woman  before,  and  they  would  really  have  liked  to 
take  hold  of  me  to  satisfy  their  curiosity.  In  this 
way  I  drew  a  large  congregation  together  for  your 
grandfather  to  preach  to,  and  I  was  quite  willing 
to  be  stared  at  if  by  that  means  we  could  do  the 
poor  people  some  good.  The  women  peeped  out 
through  their  veils  from  the  doors  of  the  houses, 
as  Sarah  did  from  her  tent  when  Abraham  enter 
tained  the  angels,  and  oh  how  I  wished  to  go  and 
talk  to  them  of  the  way  of  life !  But  they  were 
very  shy,  being  of  a  higher  caste  than  the  poor 
women  who  listened  to  me  so  attentively  at  Alla- 
bag,  and  they  only  looked  upon  me  from  a  distance 
as  a  great  curiosity.  The  Hindoos,  as  I  have  said, 
would  rarely  allow  us  to  go  into  their  houses,  and 
once,  when  we  had  entered  the  courtyard  of  a  nice- 
looking  native  house  to  leave  some  books  at  the 
door,  the  owner  came  out  in  a  great  hurry  and  re 
quested  us  to  leave  the  place;  we  were  polluting 
it." 

"  I  wish  I  had  been  there,"  said  Harry,  indig 
nantly  ;  "  I  would  have  knocked  him  down." 


MISSIONARY    WORK.  105 

"  That  would  not  have  been  exactly  the  way  to 
make  him  a  Christian,"  replied  his  grandmother, 
smiling.  "The  poor  man  knew  no  better,  and  in 
stead  of  feeling  angry,  we  were  sorry  for  him.  Did 
not  the  people  of  Gadara  request  the  Lord  Jesus  to 
depart  out  of  their  coasts  when  he  had  just  per 
formed  a  miracle  of  healing?  The  servant  is  not 
above  his  master,  Harry,  and  none  are  more  con 
stantly  reminded  of  this  than  missionaries  to  the 
heathen. 

"  I  will  show  you  where  we  traveled,  Harry," 
continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  if  you  will  hand  me 
that  little  missionary  map  on  the  table.  You  see 
that  here  is  the  Mahratta  province  in  Western  In 
dia,  here  is  Bombay  on  a  very  small  island  in  the 
Arabian  Sea  close  to  the  shore,  and  this  long  strip 
of  land  between  the  sea  and  the  Ghauts  mountains 
is  called  the  Concan.  This  is  where  our  journey 
lay,  and  you  will  see  a  number  of  little  rivers  com 
ing  out  from  arms  of  the  sea,  some  of  which  we 
would  have  to  cross  to  get  to  the  places  we  wished 
to  visit.  But  sometimes  we  went  by  land,  and 
once  I  rode  two  miles  on  a  musti  pony." 

"  Why,  grandmamma  !"  cried  Harry,  in  amaze 
ment  ;  "  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing!  How  could 
a  pony  get  musty  ?" 


106  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

Mrs.  Wildford  smiled  at  his  surprised  face  as 
she  said,  "  Perhaps  when  I  tell  you  that  rausti  is 
the  Indian  terra  for  contrary,  you  will  understand 
it  better,  and  a  very  contrary  animal  indeed  did 
my  pony  prove  to  be.  He  displayed  the  very  re 
verse  of  a  missionary  spirit,  for  he  would  never  go 
where  we  wished,  and  he  often  turned  quite  around 
and  insisted  upon  returning.  Then  he  would  come 
to  a  stand-still,  refusing  to  move  either  backward 
or  forward,  until  the  godswallah,  the  man  who 
went  with  us  to  take  care  of  the  pony,  gave  him  a 
beating  from  behind.  We  could  not  help  laughing 
at  his  antics,  although  we  found  them  so  inconve 
nient,  and  it  almost  seemed  as  though  he  under 
stood  this,  and,  like  some  children  I  have  seen,  tried 
to  show  off.  The  saddle  was  a  remarkable  contri 
vance  to  American  eyes,  being  made  of  white  cot 
ton  stuffed,  and  then  piled  so  high  with  layers  of 
cloth  that  I  was  quite  perched  up  in  the  air.  It 
was  a  very  insecure  seat,  too,  and  whenever  the 
pony  started  suddenly,  under  the  spur  of  the  gods- 
wallah's  beating,  I  rolled  entirely  off  on  the  ground. 
I  got  quite  used  to  this  after  a  while,  and  I  should 
not  like  to  say  how  often  it  happened  in  the  course 
of  that  two  miles'  ride." 

The  children    laughed    heartily  at  their  grand- 


MISSIONARY   WORK.  107 

mamma's  account  of  the  "musty"  pony,  and  they 
thought  Harry's  mistake  extremely  funny.  Minnie 
enjoyed  it  all  the  more  because  it  was  she  who 
usually  made  the  mistakes  and  Harry  who  laughed 
at  them. 

"  I  do  not  think  I  have  told  you,"  continued 
their  grandmamma,  "of  the  animals  which  the 
Hindoos  consider  sacred.  One  of  these  is  the  bull, 
and  we  often  met  them  grazing  about  the  country, 
looking  as  fat  and  sleek  as  possible,  and  helping 
themselves  quite  coolly  to  whatever  they  happened 
to  fancy.  They  are  very  fond  of  sugar,  and  one 
day  a  young  bull  put  his  nose  into  your  grand 
father's  pocket,  and  discovering  some  sweetmeats 
there,  had  it  half  devoured  before  he  was  found 
out.  Bulls  who  are  left  at  large  in  this  way  are 
an  offering  to  some  god,  and  no  one  dares  kill  or 
injure  them.  The  cow  is  also  sacred,  and  is  better 
treated  than  any  other  animal  in  India,  probably 
more  for  the  sake  of  the  milk  than  for  religion. 
The  ape  is  sacred,  too,  and  even  the  elephant  is 
sometimes  worshiped.  As  some  one  nas  said  ot 
India,  '  There  are  gods  in  the  temples,  gods  beside 
the  highway,  gods  upon  the  tops  of  the  hills,  gods 
under  the  green  trees,  gods  in  the  house,  gods  in 
the  field ;  the  air  is  full  of  them,  so  is  the  sea,  so 


108  THE   WILDFORDb  IN  INDIA. 

are  all  things.'  The  Christian  says  that  God  it 
everywhere,  and  so  does  the  Hindoo,  but  in  a  dif 
ferent  way.  His  belief  that  God  is  everywhere 
leads  him  to  worship  animals  because  God  made 
them.  But  notwithstanding  this,  they  are  often 
very  cruel  to  animals,  and  although  they  will  not 
allow  a  bullock  to  be  killed,  they  will  beat  and  ill- 
treat  the  poor  beasts  until  killing  them  would  be  a 
mercy.  The  Hindoos  even  have  hospitals  for  ani 
mals  in  some  parts  of  India,  but  these  are  often 
very  dirty  and  neglected,  and  the  money  given  by 
kind-hearted  people  to  support  them  is  used  by  the 
Brahmins  who  are  in  charge  of  these  places." 

"  I'd  like  to  get  hold  of  some  of  those  Brah 
mins  !"  exclaimed  Harry. 

"  We  got  hold  of  a  few,"  replied  his  grand 
mamma,  "  but  not  in  your  style,  Harry.  An  en 
tire  change  of  heart  is  needed  before  the  fruits  that 
a  depraved  heart  brings  forth  can  be  destroyed  ef 
fectually,  and  the  right  weapon  to  be  used  is  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God." 

There  was  a  loud  call  for  "  Harry  !"  and  Mrs. 
Wildford  said,  "  That  is  your  uncle's  voice ;  there 
seems  to  be  quite  a  commotion  down  stairs." 

Harry's  heart  beat  fast;  he  heard  the  call,  and 
also  another  sound  that  excited  him  still  more. 


MISSIONARY   WORK.  109 

Expecting  he  scarcely  knew  what,  he  bounded 
down  three  steps  at  a  time,  and  there  stood  his 
Uncle  Harry  in  the  hall  holding  a  chain,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  chain — Wag  ! 

The  dog  barked  joyously  and  began  a  series  of 
delighted  gambols  at  sight  of  Harry,  but  that  young 
gentleman  greeted  his  uncle  with  the  unexpected 
remark:  "Oh,  Uncle  Harry,  I  don't  deserve  him." 

"  Who  said  that  you  did  ?"  was  the  reply,  "  and 
how  do  you  know  that  he  is  for  you  ?" 

Harry  glanced  at  his  mother.  Uncle  Harry  was 
always  so  full  of  his  fun  that  he  could  scarcely  tell 
whether  he  was  joking  or  not. 

"  It  depends  altogether  upon  this  lady,"  con 
tinued  his  uncle.  "  I  have  had  enough  of  the  ras 
cal  this  afternoon  at  the  office,  where  he  almost 
tried  to  jump  over  the  moon." 

"A  rather  difficult  feat  in  the  day-time,  I  should 
think,"  said  Mrs.  Bolton. 

"Oh,  he  is  evidently  a  dog  who  won't  stop  at 
trifles,  and  for  turning  somersaults  he  is  quite  un 
rivaled.  I  bought  him  for  you,  Harry,  of  a  little 
shaver  about  your  own  age." 

Harry  looked  beseechingly,  though  he  said  not  a 
word,  and  after  a  few  moments'  consideration,  Mrs. 
Bolton  consented  to  receive  Wag  as  a  member  of 


110  >1HE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  family.  Harry  thanked  her  warmly,  and  also 
his  uncle,  who  asked  him  quite  comically : 

"  Have  you  been  particularly  bad,  or  only  gen 
erally  depraved,  that  you  said  you  didn't  deserve 
him?" 

The  boy's  head  hung  down  for  a  moment,  and 
then  he  frankly  told  the  whole  story  connected  with 
Wag. 

His  uncle  laughed  immoderately,  but  Harry  could 
not  see  anything  very  funny  in  it,  and  presently 
his  mother  told  him  that  he  could  go  and  show  the 
dog  to  his  grandmamma  if  she  would  give  him  per 
mission. 

Mrs.  Wildford  smiled  pleasantly  as  Harry  ap 
peared  with  his  prize,  and  Wag  testified  his  grati 
tude  by  breaking  away  from  his  master  and  bound 
ing  at  the  lady  in  a  very  ferocious  style. 

"Come  here,  sir!"  said  Harry,  sternly,  and  on 
his  way  to  obey  the  order  the  mischievous  puppy 
stopped  to  attack  Minnie,  who  had  just  followed 
her  brother.  The  little  girl  behaved  quite  bravely, 
and  smothered  a  scream  just  before  it  got  out. 

"Three  cheers  for  you  !"  said  Harry,  gratefully. 
"  He  can't  hurt  you,  puss,  and  if  you  go  to  scream 
ing  over  him  mamma  vill  send  him  out  of  the 
house." 


MISSIONARY  VORK.  Ill 

Minnie  promised  to  do  her  best,  and  she  even 
tried  to  make  a  few  advances  to  Wag,  but  when 
he  bounded  toward  her,  she  edged  up  very  closely 
to  her  grandmamma. 

"  Grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  with  an  effort,  "  I 
cannot  bear  to  come  in  here  any  more  without  tell 
ing  you  what  I  said  this  morning.  I  forgot  that 
I  had  given  away  my  five  dollars,  and  I  brought 
the  boy  here  with  Wag,  and  when  mamma  told  me 
that  I  had  no  money,  I  §aid,  '  Hang  the  mis 
sionaries  !' " 

Mrs.  Wildford  laughed  as  she  replied  :  "  That 
is  even  worse  than  the  Hindoos,  Harry,  whom  you 
are  so  fond  of  condemning.  I  do  not  think  I  would 
be  at  all  ornamental  suspended  from  a  tree ;  I  am 
quite  sure  that  I  look  better  where  I  an)." 

"How  horrible!"  exclaimed  Minnie,  with  her 
arms  around  her  grandmamma.  "  Harry,  how 
could  you  say  such  a  dreadful  thing?  I  have  a 
great  mind  not  to  love  you  a  bit !" 

"Of  course  I  didn't  mean  grandmamma,"  re 
plied  Harry,  "and  I  didn't  really  mean  any  of 
them ;  I  know  it  was  very  bad  of  me,  but  I  feel 
better  since  I  have  told  it." 

Mrs.  Wildford  pressed  her  lips  on  the  broad, 
open  forehead  of  the  boy,  nnd  hoped  much  from 


112  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  spirit  of  truthfulness  that  always  characterized 
his  actions. 

"  Doesn't  it  seem  funny,  grandmamma,  that 
Uncle  Harry  should  have  met  the  boy  who  had 
Wag  ?  I  really  believe  that  I  was  meant  to  have 
him,  after  all.  And  I'm  so  glad  that  you  like  to 
have  him  in  here  !" 

Grandmamma  was  not  at  all  sure  that  she  did 
like  it,  but  she  was  so  accustomed  to  consider  the 
pleasure  of  others  before  her  own  that  neither 
Harry  nor  Minnie  would  ever  have  suspected  it. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

A   VISIT  TO  A  RAJAH. 

:OW,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "I  will  tell  you, 
this  afternoon,  of  our  visit  to  the  rajah  of 
Allabag.  He  lived  in  the  fort,  a  dismal- 
looking  building  almost  entirely  sur 
rounded  by  the  sea.  There  was  a  sort  of  bridge 
or  pier  at  one  side  that  could  be  crossed  at  high 
water,  but  it  would  not  have  been  at  all  dis 
tinguished  for  us  to  walk  there,  and  as  his  High 
ness  sent  a  boat,  a  palanquin  and  a  horse  for  our 
accommodation,  we  concluded  to  make  the  most  of 
them." 

"  Why,  how  could  you  use  them  all,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  We  managed  it  in  this  way :  the  boat  took  us 
from  our  bungalow  to  the  fort — a  very  short  sail ; 
the  palanquin  was  for  me  to  be  carried  in  from  the 
boat,  and  the  horse  for  your  grandfather,  who  rode 
beside  me  into  the  fort.  We  had  quite  a  train,  con 
sisting  of  two  or  three  teachers  from  the  different 

8  113 


114  THE   WILDFORDs   IX  INDIA. 

schools,  our  four  servants  and  the  lascars  who  took 
us  from  Bombay,  and  when  we  passed  through 
the  guard  of  soldiers  who  were  stationed  in  front 
of  the  fort,  they  fell  back  and  presented  arms." 

"How  did  they  do  that,  grandmamma?"  said 
Minnie ;  "  in  this  way  ?"  extending  her  own  arms  as 
she  spoke.  "Now,  Harry,  you're  real  mean  to 
laugh  !  That  isn't  as  bad  as  the  musty  pony." 

"  I  do  not  think  it  is  bad  at  all,"  said  her  grand 
mamma,  with  an  affectionate  caress.  "  I  remember 
that  when  I  was  a  little  girl  like  you,  Minnie,  I 
never  could  understand  what  it  meant  when  I  read 
of  'presenting  arms.'  This  does  not  mean  arms 
that  are  attached  to  the  body,  but  the  swords,  guns 
or  whatever  weapons  the  soldiers  carry,  and  they 
present  them  by  holding  them  out  as  if  ready  to 
deliver  them  to  the  persons  to  be  honored.  This 
mark  of  respect  is  always  bestowed  upon  royal  per 
sonages,  and  it  is  considered  a  great  distinction. 
We  rather  wondered  that  poor  missionaries  were 
treated  with  such  consideration,  and  we  knew  that 
the  example  of  the  rajah  would  be  generally  fol 
lowed  by  his  subjects." 

"  Was  there  any  garden  there,"  asked  Harry, 
"  with  animals  and  things?" 

"There  were  'things,'  Harry,  but  not  animals. 


A    VISIT  TO   A    RAJAH.  115 

The  rajah's  garden  was  in  the  middle  of  the  fort, 
with  a  fountain  in  the  centre,  and  all  around  the 
fountain  were  pots  of  beautiful  tropical  plants. 
Beyond  these  were  carefully-blinded  windows, 
where  I  thought  the  women  of  the  zenana  were 
probably  peeping  out  at  us.  I  felt  sad  to  think  of 
these  poor  prisoners,  and  I  would  have  been  glad 
to  see  the  building  torn  down  that  they  might  go 
forth  into  God's  free  air  and  sunlight.  We  had 
been  taken  to  the  court,  but  we  were  soon  called 
into  a  small  room,  where  the  rajah  sat  on  a  raised 
seat  of  scarlet  cloth  that  was  approached  by  two 
steps.  He  was  a  fat,  coarse- look  ing  man,  dressed 
principally  in  two  shawls,  one  of  which  was  wound 
about  his  waist,  and  the  other  hung  over  his  left 
shoulder.  His  turban  was  of  crimson  silk ;  his 
slippers  were  scarlet,  embroidered  with  gold,  and 
turned  up  at  the  toes,  just  like  this  one." 

Minnie  thought  that  the  large  slipper  looked 
more  like  a  boat  than  anything  else,  and  Harry 
considered  it  very  unbecoming  in  a  man  to  wear 
such  finery. 

"  Why  didn't  he  have  a  crown  on  his  head  full 
of  diamonds?"  said  he.  "I  thought  that  kings 
always  wore  crowns." 

"Not  Eastern  kings,"  replied  his  grandmother; 


116  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"they  prefer  turbans,  and  this  king  was  not  rich 
enough  to  have  a  crown  of  diamonds.  He  was 
quite  a  low-caste  rajah,  and  did  not  wear  the  Brah- 
minical  string,  so  that  his  rank  was  inferior  to  that 
of  his  prime  minister.  His  forehead  was  painted 
with  the  marks  of  his  idols,  and  he  had  gold  hoops 
in  his  ears  with  a  diamond  in  each,  but  I  do  not 
think  he  wore  any  other  jewels." 

"  Ear-rings !"  shouted  Harry,  in  contempt.  "  Oh 
my !  why  didn't  he  go  and  be  a  girl  at  once?" 

"Poor  man  !"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  smiling;  "I 
think  he  dressed  himself  as  well  as  he  knew  how. 
He  received  us  very  graciously ;  we  made  our 
salaam  on  entering,  and  though  he  did  not  leave 
his  seat,  he  acknowledged  it  quite  politely.  We 
talked  of  very  much  the  same  things  as  when  we 
visited  the  dewan,  and  the  rajah  was  very  attentive 
when  we  told  him  of  our  country  and  the  long 
journey  we  had  taken  to  get  to  his.  He  was  not 
so  intelligent  a  man  as  was  his  prime  minister,  but 
he  seemed  well  disposed,  and  after  we  had  talked  a 
while  he  signified  his  willingness  that  I  should 
visit  the  queen  and  his  other  wives,  and  I  was  very 
glad  to  have  the  opportunity.  Your  grandfather, 
of  course,  was  not  allowed  to  accompany  me,  but 
our  servants  went  as  far  as  the  inner  door,  where 


A    VISIT  TO  A   RAJAH.  117 

tney  waited,  and  one  of  the  rajah's  officers  showed 
us  the  way." 

"  Did  it  look  like  the  iraaum  of  Muscat's  place?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  Not  at  all,"  was  the  reply ;  "  the  rooms  were 
rather  dark  and  gloomy-looking,  for  the  ceilings 
were  low  and  the  windows  small,  but  they  were 
divided  by  handsome  silk  hangings  instead  of 
doors,  and  the  walls  were  covered  with  mirrors. 
The  queen  was  very  much  in  the  style  of  the  king 
and  not  at  all  handsome,  but  she  was  richly  dressed, 
with  heavy  ear-rings  and  a  nose-ring  of  jewels, 
and  chains  of  pearls  and  other  precious  stones 
hanging  down  on  her  bosom.  There  were  five  or 
six  very  pretty  women  with  the  queen,  and  these 
were  also  the  rajah's  wives,  but  of  lower  rank. 
Two  or  three  very  handsome  children  belonging 
to  some  of  these  women  were  in  the  room,  and  the 
little  things  were  so  laden  with  jewelry  and  golden 
embroidery  that  they  looked  very  uncomfortable. 
It  is  a  custom  of  the  Hindoos  and  Parsees  to  dress 
their  children  very  expensively,  and  little  girls 
have  sometimes  been  robbed  in  the  streets  of  their 
rich  clothing." 

"What  kind  of  slippers  did  the  queen  wear, 
grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie. 


118  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"Flesh-colored  ones,  Minnie,  which  means  that 
she  wore  none  at  all,  neither  she  nor  the  other  ladies. 
Their  feet  were  quite  bare,  with  the  exception  of 
toe-rings  and  anklets.  These  anklets  were  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  had  little  bells  on  them." 

" '  With  rings  on  her  fingers 

And  bells  on  her  toes, 
She  makes  music 
Wherever  she  goes,' " 

said  Harry. 

"  But  the  bells  were  not  on  their  toes,"  said 
Minnie,  stoutly  ;  "  they  were  on  their  ankles.  How 
horrid  those  rings  on  their  toes  must  have  felt, 
grandmamma  !  Ugh  !  it  makes  me  crawl  to  think 
of  it." 

"  Yes,"  continued  Harry,  laughing ;  "you  should 
hear  Sarah,  grandmamma,  when  she  is  trying  to 
get  Minnie  bathed  and  dressed.  She  comes  to 
mamma's  dressing-room  about  five  times  with  the 
complaint,  '  Please,  ma'am,  Miss  Minnie  won't  let 
me  touch  her  toes.'  " 

"  I  don't  care  !"  replied  Minnie ;  "  I  do  hate  to 
have  my  toes  touched,  and  Sarah  tickles  me  so. 
But,  grandmamma,  please  tell  us  more  about  those 
funny  women.  Were  they  glad  to  see  you  ?" 

"  They  appeared  to  be,  and  the  queen  smiled  at 


A    VISIT  TO  A   RAJAH.  110 

me  a  great  deal,  and  then  laughed  outright.  I 
found  that  they  were  all  amused  at  my  bonnet — a 
thing  they  had  never  seen  before.  Bonnets  were 
worn  very  large  then,  and  mine  was  of  straw.  So 
I  told  them  just  how  it  was  made,  and  bleached  in 
the  sun,  and  then  they  asked  me  if  I  had  been 
bleached  like  my  bonnet.  They  could  not  under 
stand  how  I  came  to  be  so  white." 

"  Bleached,  indeed  !"  exclaimed  Minnie.  "  I 
wish  the  sun  did  bleach  people  instead  of  making 
them  black  ;  then  I  would  not  have  to  put  on  a 
clumsy  great  hat  every  time  I  run  out  of  the  house 
in  summer." 

"  Don't  you  wish  you  were  a  boy  ?"  asked  Harry, 
teasingly.  "  Mamma  lets  me  get  as  black  I  choose ; 
she  says  she  likes  to  see  a  boy  with  a  coat  of  tan. 
How  tired  I  should  get  of  trying  to  look  pretty  all 
the  time,  as  girls  have  to !" 

"  Xow,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  who  was  afraid  that 
this  might  be  carried  too  far,  "suppose  we  go  back 
to  the  queen  and  the  other  women  of  the  zenana. 
When  I  had  satisfied  them  about  the  bonnet,  they 
examined  my  dress  from  head  to  foot,  and  thought 
it  very  funny  that  it  fitted  me  so  tightly.  They 
asked  me  how  I  was  able  to  breathe,  although  it 
was  really  loose  for  our  fashions.  I  asked  them  if 


120  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

they  would  like  to  learn  to  read,  but  all  the  reply  I 
could  get  was  that  they  were  women.  They  were 
quite  as  much  surprised  as  the  women  in  the  street 
had  been  to  hear  me  speak  their  language,  and  the 
queen  told  me  that  mine  must  be  a  strange  country. 
Presently  a  servant  entered  bearing  a  large  tray  of 
sweetmeats,  which  was  laid  at  my  feet;  this  is  con 
sidered  a  respectful  way  of  presenting  a  gift  in  the 
East." 

"Was  it  all  for  you,  grandmamma?" 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply ;  "  and  I  think  you  would 
have  enjoyed  some  of  it  very  much,  Minnie.  There 
were  preserved  cocoanut,  and  mangoes,  and  guavas, 
ind  something  green  that  looked  like  citron  cut 
into  queer  shapes  and  quite  dry.  I  tasted  one  of 
these  little  cakes,  which  was  all  that  was  expected 
of  me,  and  then  the  tray  was  handed  to  my  servants 
outside  to  be  carried  home  for  me.  Not  the  tray 
itself,  for  that  was  of  solid  silver,  and  the  queen 
had  no  idea  of  parting  with  it." 

"She  wasn't  a  very  generous  queen,"  said 
Harry. 

"  Perhaps  not,"  replied  his  grandmamma,  "  but 
I  did  not  at  all  desire  the  silver  tray.  Another 
offering  was  soon  laid  at  my  feet  that  was  not  quite 
so  acceptable  as  the  preserves,  but  this,  too,  I  was 


A    VISIT  TO  A  RAJAH.  121 

ibliged  to  taste  to  avoid  giving  oftenoe.  It  is 
railed  pawn,  and  is  made  of  little  square  pieces  ,f 
betel  nut  mixed  with  cardamom  seeds  and  other 
spices  wrapped  in  an  aromatic  leaf.  This  n; 
constantly  chewed  by  the  natives,  and  is  said  to  be 
not  at  all  bad  when  one  gets  used  to  it,  but  this  I 
had  no  idea  of  doing.  Having  selected  a  carda 
mom  seed,  with  which  I  felt  more  at  home  than  I 
did  with  the  other  articles,  I  put  it  into  my  mouth 
and  the  queen  was  quite  satisfied.  Her  Majesty 
did  me  the  honor  of  sprinkling  me  with  rose- 
water,  after  the  manner  of  the  dewan,  and  also  of 
putting  attar  on  my  hands  and  handkerchief.  She 
did  this  so  thoroughly  that  I  was  scented  up  for  a 
month  to  come." 

"  How  very  funny !"  said  Minnie,  laughing. 
"What  would  mamma's  visitors  think  if  sh* 
should  throw  cologne-water  on  them  when  they 
came  to  see  her?" 

"  It  would  look  as  though  she  didn't  think  them 
very  clean,"  observed  Harry. 

"  The  East,  Harry,  is  very  different  from  the 
West,"  continued  his  grandmother,  "and  many 
customs  will  not  bear  transplanting.  The  servant 
then  brought  in  some  jessamine  flowers  threaded 
on  strings,  just  as  children  string  lilac  blossoms  ;  a 


122  THE    WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

necklace  of  these  was  placed  on  my  neck  and  a 
bracelet  on  each  arm." 

"That  was  very  pretty,"  said  Minnie;  "I  would 
have  liked  that  better  than  the  perfuming." 

"  The  jessamine  itself  has  a  very  strong  per 
fume,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  I  did  not  care  to 
have  the  flowers  quite  so  near  me,  but  it  would 
have  given  great  offence  to  take  them  off.  It  was 
now  time  to  take  my  leave,  and  I  ventured  to 
present  the  queen  with  a  copy  of  the  gospel  in 
Mahratta  and  a  couple  of  tracts  in  the  same  lan 
guage.  She  smiled  good-naturedly,  and  said  they 
were  no  good  ;  she  could  not  read.  'Cannot  some 
one  read  them  to  you  ?'  I  asked.  She  laughed  at 
my  perseverance,  and  said  yes,  her  gooroo  could.' " 

"  What's  that  ?"  asked  Harry ;  "  it  sounds  like  a 
monkey." 

"A  gooroo  is  a  teacher  and  a  priest  who  lives  in 
a  family — a  sort  of  private  chaplain.  I  hoped  that 
the  gooroo  not  only  could  read  the  books  to  the 
queen,  but  would,  though  I  had  my  doubts  of  this, 
and  I  left  the  place  with  no  very  hopeful  feelings 
I  believe  that  the  queen  looked  upon  me  as  a  sort 
of  crazy  woman." 

"Where  was  grandpapa  all  this  time?"  said 
Harry. 


A    VISIT  TO  A   RAJAH.  123 

"I  left  him  with  the  rajah,"  was  the  reply,  "and 
when  I  returned,  they  were  evidently  waiting  for 
me.  They  seemed  to  have  exhausted  all  they  had 
to  say  to  each  other,  and  I  think  they  were  both 
glad  to  be  released.  Then  came  a  second  perfum 
ing  from  the  rajah." 

"What!  more  rose-water?"  exclaimed  both  the 
children. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  and  attar  too.  I 
thought  the  rajah  really  enjoyed  the  business,  per 
haps  because  he  was  to  get  rid  of  us  so  soon.  A 
double  quantity  of  jessamine  jewelry  was  now 
brought  in,  and  your  grandfather  was  ornamented 
as  well  as  myself." 

"  How  funny  he  must  have  looked  !"  said  Harry. 
"  Why  didn't  he  snatch  them  off,  grandmamma?" 

"  He  looked  as  though  he  felt  oddly,"  was  the 
reply,  "  but  he  was  ready  to  bear  a  greater  cross 
than  a  necklace  and  bracelets  of  flowers  for  the 
chance  of  furthering  his  Master's  work.  We  now 
made  our  salaams  and  retired,  thankful  that  we 
had  apparently  gained  the  good-will  of  those  in 
authority  to  help  us  in  our  work  at  Allabag." 

Harry  rose  with  great  gravity,, and  executed  a 
very  good  salaam  himself  as  he  led  Minnie  off  to 
the  nursery  for  a  romp  before  dinner. 


CHAPTER 

THE  KUBEER-°UNT. 

R  ANDMAMMA,"  said  Minnie,  "  did  you 
ever  see  those  poor  women  again  who  stood 
and  listened  to  you  that  morning  ?" 

"  Yes,  indeed,  my  child,"  was  the  reply  ; 
"they  fell  quite  into  the  way  of  stopping  at  the 
verandah  as  they  passed  to  their  work,  and  many  a 
good  'preach'  did  I  have  while  they  listened  eagerly 
to  the  'old,  old  story  of  Jesus  and  his  love.'  I 
gave  them  books,  which  they  received  gratefully, 
although  they  could  not  read,  but  some  one  might 
get  them  who  could  read,  and  I  have  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  the  seed  sown  in  this  way  sprang  up  and 
bore  fruit  abundantly.  I  think  I  must  tell  you  of 
one  of  your  dear  grandfather's  journeys  while  we 
were  at  Allabag,  when  I  was  not  with  him,  and  his 
visit  to  a  queer  little  village.  Would  you  like  to 
hear  it?" 

"Yes,  indeed,"  replied  the  children;  "but  why 
were  you  not  with  him,  grandmamma?" 

124 


THE  KU BEER-PUNT.  125 

"I  could  not  always  go,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford ; 
"sometimes  the  journey  would  be  too  fatiguing  for 
me,  and  sometimes  I  would  have  a  bad  headache. 
This  was  the  trouble  on  that  occasion,  and  I  was 
lying  in  the  bungalow  with  a  wet  cloth  on  my 
head,  while  the  Padre  Sahib,  as  they  called  your 
grandfather  (which  means  Mr.  Priest),  was  riding 
from  village  to  village  distributing  books  and 
preaching  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  Toward 
sunset  he  was  walking  his  horse  slowly  along  and 
thinking  of  all  the  work  he  had  done  during  the 
day,  when  he  spied  a  little  village  that  was  rather 
out  of  his  road,  and  as  he  wished  to  go  to  an  im 
portant  place  not  far  off,  he  could  not  quite  make 
up  his  mind  that  it  was  best  to  turn  out  of  his  way 
and  visit  this  little  hamlet.  But  he  could  not  seem 
to  get  on,  and  the  horse,  almost  of  his  own  accord, 
took  that  direction.  It  was  quite  a  humble  village, 
and  a  very  still  one;  not  a  living  soul  could  be 
found  to  give  an  account  of  the  inhabitants." 

"  I  guess  they  were  all  asleep,"  said  Harry, 
thinking  of  fairy  tales  he  had  read  which  sounded 
like  this. 

"  You  will  see,"  continued  his  grandmamma. 
"At  length,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village,  your 
grandfather  met  a  man  who  was  watohing  some 


126  THE   WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

cows,  and  from  him  he  learned  that  the  people  (this 
never  means  women,  in  India)  had  all  gone  to  the 
house  of  the  patel,  or  chief  man  of  the  place. 
Your  grandfather  said  that  he  wished  them  to  be 
told  that  he  had  come  a  long  way  to  see  them,  and 
that  he  had  something  to  tell  them,  when  the  man 
offered  to  show  him  the  way  to  the  patel 's,  that  he 
might  go  and  speak  to  them  there." 

"  But,  grandmamma,"  asked  Minnie,  quite  anx 
iously,  "  what  did  they  do  with  the  women  ?" 

"They  kept  them  shut  up  in  the  houses,  my 
child,  and  they  would  not  have  dared  to  speak  to 
the  missionary  if  they  had  seen  him.  Only  the 
lower  orders  of  women  are  allowed  to  walk  in  the 
streets  of  India.  The  women  of  the  upper  classes 
are  not  even  permitted  to  appear  in  the  houses 
before  many  of  their  own  male  relatives  without  the 
chuddar,  or  veil,  drawn  tightly  over  their  faces." 

"Ugh!"  said  Minnie,  who  hated  veils,  even  to 
keep  off  the  sun.  "  I  am  glad  I'm  not  a  Hindoo 
woman !" 

"  You  may  be  glad,  indeed,"  was  the  reply, 
"and  I  hope  you  will  not  only  be  glad,  but  thank 
ful  to  your  heavenly  Father  who  has  made  you  a 
Christian  child  instead  of  placing  you  among  the 
heathen.  But  to  return  to  your  grandfather  and 


THE  KUREER-PUNT  127 

hia  guide,  as  they  were  walking  to  the  patel's 
house  they  came  to  the  temple,  aud  all  the  men, 
about  a  hundred  in  number,  were  just  coming  out 
from  there.  The  patel  was  easily  distinguished  by 
his  air  of  importance  and  the  respect  paid  him  by 
the  others,  and  as  the  stranger  approached  him  he 
made  his  salaam  very  politely,  and  asked  what  he 
could  do  for  him. 

"Your  grandfather  replied  that  he  did  not  want 
anything  except  to  have  a  little  talk  with  him, 
that  he  had  come  a  long  way  for  this  purjxxse,  and 
he  thought  it  could  be  done  best  in  the  open  air, 
for  the  patel  had  invited  him  to  his  house,  but 
the  missionary  did  not  wish  to  lose  the  crowd  of 
people,  who  could  see  and  hear  him  better  where 
there  was  more  room. 

"The  man  looked  quite  pleased  to  hear  that  so 
much  trouble  had  been  taken  on  his  account,  and 
your  grandfather  began  his  work  by  asking,  joint 
ing  at  the  same  time  to  the  images,  '  What  is  this? 
And  this?  And  this?'  For  there  were  idols  out 
side  of  the  temple  as  well  as  in. 

" '  Those  are  gods,'  the  patel  replied,  and  he 
seemed  quite  proud  of  saying  it. 

"  'And  what  are  they  made  of?'  was  the  next 
question. 


128  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

'"Of  stone;'  and  the  patel  wondered  that  the 
strange  white  man  could  not  see  this  for  himself. 

"  'And  who  made  them  ?' 

"'Oh,  a  famous  workman  who  carves  splen 
didly  in  stone,  and  who  has  made  very  many  such 
things.' 

"'And  you  worship  them,  do  you  not?' 

" '  Of  course  they  did ;  they  paid  puja  to  them 
whenever  they  wished  to  be  preserved  from  harm, 
or  wanted  rain,  or  wanted  it  to  stop  raining,  or 
\vished  for  success  in  business,  or  to  be  taken  care 
of  on  a  journey,  and  many  other  things.' " 

"But  what  is  'puja,'  grandmamma?"  asked 
Harry.  "  I  never  heard  of  such  queer  people  as 
these  Hindoos !" 

"  That  is  their  name  for  worship,"  said  Mrs. 
Wildford.  "Puja  is  performed  by  sprinkling  an 
idol  with  holy  water  from  the  Ganges,  and  placing 
before  it  offerings  of  sweetmeats,  rice,  flowers  and 
whatever  else  the  person  chooses  to  offer.  Certain 
words  are  repeated  as  each  article  is  presented,  and 
if  any  mistake  is  made,  it  has  to  be  all  done  over 
again.  It  is  quite  a  work  of  time  to  teach  the 
children  to  pay  puja  properly;  it  is  very  different 
from  the  simple  prayers  that  our  Saviour  loves  to 
hear  from  infant  lips." 


THE  KUBEEPrPUNT.  129 

"What  did  grandpapa  say  next?"  asked  Harry. 

"  I  think  he  then  asked  the  patel  if  he  were  not 
the  chief  man  of  the  place.  He  said  that  he  was ; 
and  he  evidently  felt  very  proud  of  being  the  head 
man. 

"  'And  all  the  other  men  treat  you  with  a  great 
deal  of  respect,  do  they  not,  and  ask  your  advice 
about  a  great  many  things  ?' 

" '  Yes,'  he  said  ;  <  they  did.' 

"Your  grandfather  told  him  that  this  was  very 
proper,  as  he  was  the  most  important  person  in  the 
village.  'But  suppose,'  he  continued,  'that  the 
people  should  begin  to  say,  We  have  been  paying 
too  much  attention  to  the  patel,  and  we  are  not 
going  to  notice  him  any  more ;  here  is  a  piece  of 
stone  :  we  will  take  that  for  our  chief  man,  and  pay 
our  respects  to  it  instead  of  the  patel.  How  would 
you  like  that?' 

"  The  man  gazed  at  the  missionary  in  great  sur 
prise,  and  said  that  he  should  not  like  it  at  all. 
Now,  Harry,  can  you  not  tell  me  what  your  grand 
father  then  told  him?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Harry;  "I  think  he  talked  to 
him  about  worshiping  God  instead  of  idols,  didn't 
he,  grandmamma?" 

" That  was  just  it;  he  spoke  to  him  of  the  great 


THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

and  mighty  God  who  made  him  and  all  mankind  ; 
who  watched  over  him  all  the  days  of  his  life ; 
who  gave  or  withheld  the  rain,  and  who  alone 
had  power  over  all  things;  who  crowned  him,  as 
the  Psalmist  says,  with  loving-kindness  and  tender 
mercies,  and  who  has  said, '  Thou  shalt  worship  the 
Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve.' 
And  yet  he  looked  down  upon  ungrateful  men  whc 
paid  him  no  respect,  but  hired  men  as  weak  as 
themselves  to  make  them  idols  of  wood  and  stone, 
which  they  worshiped  instead  of  the  great  and 
good  God  to  whom  they  owed  everything  they  had. 
What  would  God  think  of  such  men  ?  Would  he 
be  pleased  when  they  treated  stones  as  if  they  were 
himself?  And  would  he  not  punish  them? 

"The  patel  looked  very  much  troubled;  no  one 
had  ever  spoken  to  him  of  the  truth  before,  and 
uow  he  could  make  no  reply  to  it. 

"'Sahib,'  said  he,  after  thinking  very  gravely, 
'  what  you  say  is  very  good,  and  perhaps  your  holy 
books  are  better  than  our  Shasters.  I  am  not  a 
learned  man,  and  therefore  I  cannot  answer  you, 
but  there  is  a  man  in  the  place  who  could  answer 
you  if  he  were  only  here.  He  is  a  kubeer-punt, 
but  he  is  a  very  good  man,  and  he  teaches  the 
people  what  is  right.' " 


THE  KUBEEBrPUNT.  131 

"Now,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  "please 
tell  us  what  that  something-pant  is." 

"The  kubeer-punts,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  smil 
ing,  "are  men  who  teach  a  sort  of  patched-up  re 
ligion  which  is  partly  Hindoo,  and  partly  Moham 
medan,  and  partly  Buddhist — in  short,  a  little  of 
everything.  They  do  not  worship  idols,  and  they 
are  generally  very  moral,  well-behaved  people. 
The  patel  spoke  of  this  kubeer-punt  with  great 
respect,  and  your  grandfather  requested  that  he 
might  be  sent  for,  as  he  should  like  to  hear  what 
he  had  to  say. 

" '  But  he  cannot  come,'  was  the  reply ; '  he  is  sick.' 

"A  missionary  soon  learns  the  necessity  of  perse 
verance,  and  the  Padre  Sahib  next  inquired  if  he 
could  not  go  to  the  man's  house. 

"Yes;  the  patel  thought  that  would  do  very  nicely, 
and  the  crowd,  who  had  listened  to  everything  in 
respectful  silence,  moved  in  procession  after  their 
head  man  and  the  strange  visitor.  When  they 
reached  the  house,  they  called  to  the  kubeer-punt 
to  come  out  and  show  himself,  as  a  brother  gooroo 
had  traveled  a  long  distance  to  talk  with  him.  The 
sick  man,  who  was  quite  fine-looking,  with  an  in 
telligent,  dignified  countenance,  appeared  in  the 
doorway,  and  seemed  bewildered  by  the  crowd 


132  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

around  him.  He  looked  sick,  but  he  had  evidently 
not  been  in  bed,  and  when  he  saw  the  stranger, 
he  made  his  salaam  and  represented  himself  to  be 
at  his  service. 

"'Are  you  able  to  come  outside?'  asked  your 
grandfather ;  '  I  should  like  to  have  a  little  talk 
with  you.  I  have  heard  that  you  are  a  good  and 
learned  man.' 

"  Very  well  pleased  at  this,  the  kubeer-punt  pro 
duced  a  mat  for  his  visitor  and  one  for  himself, 
and  down  they  sat  by  the  door,  while  the  crowd 
stood  waiting  for  the  words  of  wisdom  that  they 
expected  to  hear  from  two  such  learned  gooroos. 

" '  I  believe,'  said  your  grandfather,  *  that  you 
teach  the  people  here  what  is  their  duty,  and  that 
you  teach  them  very  good  things?' 

" '  I  try  to  tell  them  what  is  right/  replied  the 
man,  humbly. 

" '  May  I  ask  you  to  tell  me  some  of  the  things 
you  teach  ?'  continued  the  visitor. 

"'  I  tell  them,'  said  the  kubeer-punt,  'that  they 
must  not  lie,  or  steal,  or  kill ;  that  they  must  not 
cheat  in  their  business,  or  harm  each  other  in  any 
other  way.' 

" '  That  is  very  good  indeed,'  replied  your  grand 
father,  '  and  I  hope  they  attend  to  what  you  say.' 


THE  KUBEER-PUNT.  133 

"  '  That  they  do,'  said  the  patel,  warmly ;  '  this 
good  man  has  improved  us  very  much.' 

"'But  why  are  they  to  keep  from  doing  these 
things?'  asked  the  missionary;  'what  do  you 
promise  them  as  a  reward  for  all  this  carefulness  ?' 

" '  The  favor  of  God,'  was  the  reply,  '  and  that 
they  shall  be  happy  when  they  die.' 

" '  But  suppose  that  they  should  sometimes 
break  these  very  good  rules  and  be  guilty  of  the 
very  sins  they  committed  before  you  taught  them  ; 
what  then  ?  I  dare  say,  now,'  turning  to  the  crowd, 
'that  some  of  you  do  lie  and  steal  occasionally,  in 
spite  of  the  good  teachings  you  have?' 

"'Oh  yes,'  they  said,  very  smilingly,  and  with 
out  the  least  shame.  A  Hindoo  never  thinks  such 
sins  disgraceful. 

" '  Why,  then,'  replied  the  kubeer-punt,  '  if  they 
pronounce  a  certain  word  that  I  give  them,  their 
sins  will  all  be  burned  to  ashes.' 

" '  What  is  that  word  ?'  asked  your  grandfather. 

" '  I  cannot  tell  you  ;  it  can  only  be  pronounced 
to  those  who  need  it  for  their  sins.  It  is  very 
sacred.' 

" '  I  do  not  need  it,'  continued  the  missionary, 
'for  I  have  something  better,  but  if  I  say  the  word 
to  you,  will  you  tell  me  if  I  am  right?' 


134  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  The  kubeer-punt  said  that  he  would. 

"  '  Well,  then,  your  word  (which  you  have  taken 
from  the  Sanscrit)  is  Sohum.' 

"The  man  started,  and  stared  at  your  grand 
father  as  though  he  had  been  a  magician.  '  How 
did  you  know  ?'  he  asked. 

"  *  It  is  the  name  of  the  Almighty  God/  was  the 
reply,  '  for  it  means  /  Am,  and  you  are  partly 
right  in  saying  that  this  Name  will  cleanse  the 
people  from  their  sins,  but  you  have  not  the  whole 
truth.  What  do  you  do  about  those  sins  that  were 
committed  before  these  people  tried  to  lead  better 
lives?' 

" '  God  was  merciful,'  the  kubeer-punt  said ;  l  he 
would  forgive  these  sins.' 

" '  Suppose,  then,  that  a  man  who  had  murdered 
some  one  was  taken  before  government  by  the 
friends  of  the  murdered  man,  and  after  government 
had  heard  the  story  it  should  say,  Oh,  well,  that  is 
bad,  to  be  'sure,  but  he  won't  do  so  again.  He's  a 
poor  fellow,  and  we  know  he's  sorry ;  we'll  let  him 
go  this  time.  Suppose  that  the  man  even  lived  for 
ten  years  without  doing  any  more  harm,  would  it 
be  just  for  government  to  let  him  go  without  pun 
ishment?' 

"  The  kubeer-punt  looked  very  thoughtful,  but 


THE  KUBEER-PUNT.  135 

said,  '  No ;  people  would  not  be  satisfied  unless 
government  punished  those  who  did  wrong.' 

"'If  a  man  stole  a  large  sum  of  money/  contin 
ued  your  grandfather,  'and  spent  it  all,  what 
should  government  do  then  ?' 

" '  Make  him  pay  his  own  money  to  the  man 
from  whom  he  stole.' 

"'But  what  if  he  were  poor  and  had  no  money 
of  his  own  ?  What  would  be  done  then  ?' 

" '  He  must  go  to  prison,'  was  the  prompt  re- 
ply." 

"  I  know  !"  exclaimed  Minnie,  with  great  inter 
est.  "It  is  in  the  Bible,  grandmamma — 'Put  in 
prison  till  he  should  pay  the  whole  debt.' " 

"Yes,  my  dear  little  girl,  it  is,  and  we  are  com 
ing  to  Him  who  paid  the  debt  for  us  all.  Your 
grandfather  then  said  to  the  kubeer-punt, 

" '  But,  perhaps,  when  the  man  is  about  to  be 
taken  to  prison,  some  kind  friend  steps  forward  and 
says,  '  I  have  the  money  ;  take  it,  and  let  this  man 
go  free.'  It  would  then  be  right  to  let  the  man  go, 
would  it  not?' 

"'Yes,'  replied  the  kubeer-punt,  wondering 
where  this  was  leading  him  ;  '  it  would  be  right.' 

"'Now,  my  friend,'  said  the  missionary,  'this  is 
just  where  my  belief  is  better  than  yours:  your 


136  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

man  must  go  to  prison  when  he  has  nothing  to  pay ; 
your  plan  is  good,  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  there  is  no 
salvation  in  it.  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believ- 
eth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life.' 

"  He  preached  to  him  Jesus,  the  Way,  the  Truth 
and  the  Life,  and  the  man  who  had  taught  others 
now  sat  humbly  at  his  feet  to  learn.  Your  grand 
father  then  gave  the  kubeer-punt  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John,  and  made  him  promise  that  he  would  read 
it  carefully  and  think  deeply  on  all  that  he  found 
in  it.  ( Then/  said  he,  ( come  to  me  and  tell  me 
just  how  you  feel  about  it.'  He  mounted  his  horse 
again,  and  the  crowd  followed  him  quite  a  distance 
with  great  respect  and  admiration,  for  he  had 
spoken  such  words  of  wisdom  that  even  the  kubeer- 
punt  was  not  able  to  answer  him." 

"Did  grandpapa  ever  see  the  man  again?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  He  did,  indeed,"  was  the  reply ;  "  in  about  two 
weeks  the  kubeer-punt  went  to  Bombay  to  find  the 
Padre  Sahib  and  tell  him  that  he  could  be  a  kubeer- 
punt  no  longer." 

"  "Was  not  grandpapa  glad  then  that  he  went  to 
the  little  village  ?"  asked  Minnie. 


THE  KUBEER-PUNT.  137 

"Both  glad  and  thankful,"  replied  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford.  "It  was  plainly  the  working  of  God's  prov 
idence  that  he  turned  aside,  somewhat  against  his 
will,  to  the  lonely  hamlet.  He  took  the  kubeer- 
punt  with  him  on  his  next  short  journey,  and  oh 
ho\v  earnestly  the  man  talked  to  all  whom  he  met 
of  the  one  subject  that  seemed  to  fill  his  mind  ! — 
the  atonement  of  Christ. 

"  Sometimes  those  whom  he  had  once  taught  dif 
ferently  would  say  to  him,  'Then  you  have  been 
deceiving  us  all  along,  have  you,  teaching  us  false 
doctrine  ?' 

"'I  taught  what  I  believed  then/  he  replied. 
1 1  was  deceived  myself.' 

" '  But  how  do  we  know  that  you  are  not  de 
ceived  now  ?'  would  be  the  next  question. 

" '  Try  and  see,'  he  would  exclaim,  while  his  face 
became  perfectly  radiant.  '  I  never  knew  what 
peace  and  joy  were  before.  Christ  is  just  the  Sa 
viour  that  we  need ;  he  does  not  half  save  us  and 
leave  us  to  work  out  the  rest,  but  he  saves  us 
wholly  now  and  for  ever.' 

"  He  became  a  most  successful  preacher  to  his 
heathen  countrymen,  and  many  souls  were  gath 
ered  into  the  heavenly  garner  through  the  instru 
mentality  of  that  one  missionary  visit. 


138  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"'In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed,  and  in  the  even 
ing  withhold  not  thine  hand,  for  thou  canst  not  tell 
whether  shall  prosper  that  or  this.' " 

"I  wish  I  could  sow  some  seed,"  said  Minnie, 
thoughtfully. 

"  My  little  one  is  sowing  ten  cents  a  week,"  re 
plied  her  grandmamma,  with  a  smile.  "  How  does 
she  get  along  with  that  ?" 

Minnie's  fair  skin  became  quite  red  as  she  said 
with  an  effort,  "Grandmamma,  Harry  was  so  good 
in  telling  you  about  '  Wag '  that  I  must  tell  you 
about  my  ten  cents.  I  used  to  spend  it  very  often 
in  molasses  candy,  and  almost  every  Saturday  now 
Sarah  buys  me  some  candy  herself." 

"  Then  Sarah  is  not  really  ( mean/  is  she  ?"  asked 
Mrs.  Wildfbrd,  quietly. 

"  Oh,  grandmamma,"  exclaimed  the  little  girl, 
with  a  burning  blush,  "she  is  not  mean  at  all,  and 
I  am  afraid  that  I  have  been  very  bad  to  her.  I 
promised  Sarah  that  I  would  ask  you  something 
for  her :  may  she  come  in  sometimes  and  hear 
about  India?" 

"Certainly  she  may/'  was  the  reply — "just  as 
often  as  she  can  find  time.  Tell  Sarah  that  I  shall 
always  be  glad  to  see  her.  But  I  think,"  con 
tinued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "that  I  have  found  a  better 


THE   AT BEER- PUNT.  139 

way  of  giving  for  my  little  missionaries,  and  that 
is  to  earn  the  money  beforehand." 

"Oh,  grandmamma,"  shouted  Harry,  in  great 
delight,  "that  will  be  capital.  What  do  you  want 
me  to  do  for  you  ?" 

"  I  can't  afford  to  keep  a  boy  to  wait  upon  me," 
said  his  grandmamma,  laughing,  "and  I  did  not 
say  that  you  were  to  earn  the  money  from  me. 
But  there  are  ways  in  which  boys  can  earn  money. 
I  heard  of  a  boy  once  who  had  what  he  called  a 
missionary  hen,  and  all  the  eggs  this  hen  laid  he 
put  aside  to  sell  for  the  heathen." 

"  I  like  that,"  said  Harry,  enthusiastically;  "let 
us  each  have  a  missionary  hen,  Minnie,  if  mamma 
gives  us  leave." 

"  I  don't  believe  mine  would  lay  any  eggs,"  re 
plied  his  sister,  disconsolately. 

Harry  caught  sight  of  his  father  as  he  was 
bounding  down  stairs. 

"Oh,  papa,"  he  exclaimed,  impetuously,  "can't 
I  have  a  missionary  hen?" 

Mr.  Bolton  had  what  Harry  called  his  funny 
look  on. 

"  I  have  not  the  least  idea,"  said  he,  "  where 
such  a  fowl  could  be  procured  ;  indeed,  I  am  quite 
sure  that  I  never  even  heard  of  one  before." 


140  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"Well,  grandmamma  can  tell  you  all  about  it," 
replied  Harry,  who  began  to  be  afraid  that  his 
father  was  laughing  at  him. 

As  Mrs.  Wildford  just  then  appeared,  her  son- 
in-law  asked  her  quite  gravely  to  what  particular 
branch  of  missionary  work  these  remarkable  hens 
directed  their  attention. 

"  They  merely  pursue  their  ordinary  employment 
of  laying  eggs,"  was  the  reply;  "the  missionary 
part  depends  on  their  owners." 

When  Uncle  Harry  came  in,  as  he  frequently 
did  of  an  evening,  the  joke  was  repeated,  and  poor 
Harry  junior  became  quite  tired  of  hearing  about 
missionary  hens.  Mamma  soon  decided  that  even 
a  hen  of  this  stamp  would  not  respect  her  flower- 
garden,  and  the  poultry  plan  had  to  be  given  up 
for  the  present. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

HINDOO  BOYS  AND  TODDY-WALLAHS. 

jjJARAH  presented  herself,  sewing  in  hand, 
with  a  smile  and  a  blush,  at  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford's  door  the  next  afternoon,  and  was 
evidently  very  much  pleased  with  her  re 
ception.  Perhaps  there  was  rather  a  superabun 
dance  of  ribbons,  but  she  had  a  bright,  pleasant 
face,  and  was  devoted  to  the  children. 

Wag's  black  nose  next  appeared,  and  grand 
mamma  laughed  at  the  variety  of  her  visitors  as 
she  told  Harry  that  she  should  hold  him  responsi 
ble  for  his  dog's  behavior.  "  Wag  "  was  ordered  to 
curl  himself  into  a  ball  at  once,  which  he  did  very 
obediently,  and  then  Harry  asked : 

"When  grandpapa  went  about  to  preach  to  the 
heathen  in  those  villages,  didn't  he  ever  meet  any 
boys  like  me?" 

"  Not  exactly  like  you,"  was  the  reply,  "  for  they 
were  several  shades  darker,  and  they  did  not  have 
much  on  them  in  the  way  of  clothes.  Sometimes 
they  wore  caps  like  this." 

141 


142  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

Mrs.  Wildford  took  down  a  stiff  velvet  cap  from 
the  hook  where  it  was  hanging,  and  showed  the 
children  how  it  was  ornamented  with  gold  embroi 
dery. 

"  What  makes  it  so  hard  ?"  asked  Minnie.  "  I 
thought  that  velvet  was  always  soft." 

"  It  is  made  on  a  frame,"  was  the  reply ;  "  there 
is  probably  thick  pasteboard  underneath." 

"And  do  they  wear  those  warm  things  out  in  the 
hot  sun,  ma'am  ?"  asked  Sarah. 

"Yes;  they  do  not  mind  the  sun  as  we  do,  for 
they  have  always  been  used  to  it.  Here  is  a  lighter 
cap  of  scarlet  cloth." 

"  It  looks  like  a  fool's  cap !"  said  Harry,  con 
temptuously  ;  "  I  wouldn't  wear  it." 

"  Neither  would  a  Hindoo  boy,"  replied  his 
grandmamma,  "  for  this  is  intended  for  a  girl.  It 
is  a  bride's  cap,  and  is  only  worn  during  the  mar 
riage  ceremony." 

Sarah  did  not  think  this  nearly  so  pretty  for  a 
bride  as  a  white  veil  and  orange  blossoms,  but  "she 
supposed  these  ignorant  heathen  didn't  know  how 
to  do  things  properly." 

Mrs.  Wildford  sighed  as  she  said  that  this  was 
a  very  small  part  of  their  ignorance. 

"  I  must  tell  you,  Harry,"  she  continued,  "  of  a 


HINDOO  BOYS.  143 

little  fellow  whom  your  grandfather  met  while  we 
were  at  Allabag.  He  was  sitting  on  a  rock  by 
himself  whistling." 

"Do  Hindoo  boys  whistle?"  asked  Minnie,  in 
surprise. 

"  Yes,"  replied  her  grandmother ;  "  they  are  very 
much  like  other  boys.  But  what  did  you  expect  them 
to  do,  my  dear  ?" 

"  I  thought,"  said  Minnie,  hesitatingly,  "  that 
they  made  dreadful  noises  like  Indians." 

"Oh  !"  said  Harry,  laughing ;  "  she  expected  them 
to  be  giving  Indian  war-whoops,  I  suppose." 

"  They  do  make  dreadful  noises  very  often,"  con 
tinued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "but  this  little  fellow  was 
very  harmlessly  whistling  and  watching  some  sheep 
that  were  browsing  near.  Your  grandfather  had 
passed  a  great  many  people  on  the  road,  and  when 
he  came  up  to  the  boy,  he  asked  him  where  all  the 
people  were  going.  The  boy  stopped  whistling 
and  gazed  at  him  in  great  surprise. 

"'Why,  don't  you  know?'  said  he.  'They're 
going  on  a  pilgrimage.' 

"  'And  what  is  that?'  was  the  next  question. 

"' Why,  don't  you  know  what  a  pilgrimage  is? 
They  are  going  to  a  very  holy  puut  w^ere  there  is 
a  large  god  made  of  gold,  and  when  they  come 


144  THE    WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

back  they  will  be  very  holy  themselves,  and  may 
do  what  they  please.' 

"'Has  this  god  so  much  power,  then?'  con 
tinued  your  grandfather. 

"  'Oh  yes,'  said  the  boy ;  '  he  is  a  very  rich  god  ; 
he  is  worth  forty  thousand  rupees ;  he  is  made  of 
gold,  you  know.' 

" l  But  I  should  think  some  one  would  steal  him,' 
said  the  missionary.  '  Do  not  people  try  to  carry 
him  away  ?' 

" '  It  would  take  more  than  two  men  to  do  that,' 
was  the  reply,  'and  besides,  the  Brahmins  stay 
with  him  and  watch  him  all  the  time.  But  why 
do  you  not  go  and  see  him  yourself,  sahib  ?  I  have 
told  you  the  truth  about  him." 

" '  I  do  not  worship  any  of  your  gods,  my  boy,' 
said  your  grandfather,  kindly ;  '  I  come  from  a  far 
country  where  the  people  all  worship  one  God.' 

"'What  is  he  made  of?' 

" '  I  cannot  tell  you  what  he  is  made  of,  for  he  is 
a  spirit,  but  he  is  a  great  deal  richer  than  this  gold 
god  you  have  told  me  of.' 

" '  Is  he  ?'  said  the  boy,  eagerly ;  '  is  he  worth 
eighty  thousand  rupees,  then  ?' 

" '  He  is  worth  more  than  the  whole  world,'  was 
the  reply,  'for  he  made  everything  in  it — this 


HINDOO  BOYS.  145 

ground,  and  these  trees  that  you  see  growing,  and 
you,  and  me,  and  all  men.  My  God  is  very  wise, 
too ;  there  is  nothing  that  he  does  not  know.  He 
knows  your  name,  though  I  don't  know  it,  and  he 
knows  that  I  am  talking  to  you  now.  He  sees  us 
all  the  time/ 

"  The  boy  looked  frightened,  and  glanced  about 
him.  '  He  is  not  here  now,'  said  he ;  '  I  do  not  see 
him  at  all.  My  name  is  Ramoo.  Is  your  god  wiser 
than  Gunputti  ?' 

"  This  is  the  god  of  wisdom,  of  whom  I  told  you, 
with  the  elephant's  head.  Shall  I  tell  you  how  this 
god  came  to  be  a  boy  with  an  elephant's  head  ?  It 
is  a  very  silly  Hindoo  story." 

The  children  were  anxious  to  hear  the  silly  story, 
and  Sarah  looked  very  much  interested. 

"  The  Brahmins  say,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford, 
"  that  Vishnu  one  day  went  on  a  journey,  and 
Saraswati,  his  wife,  thought  this  would  be  a  good 
time  to  take  a  bath.  So  she  made  a  boy  out  of 
clay  and  gave  him  life,  and  told  him  to  stand  in 
the  doorway  as  sentinel,  and  to  let  no  one  come  into 
the  house,  no  matter  who  it  might  be.  Now,  it 
happened  that  the  first  person  who  wished  to  come 
in  was  Vishnu  himself,  who  had  either  forgotten 
something  or  had  changed  his  mind  about  taking 

10 


146  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  journey.  He  was  very  angry  at  the  obstinate 
boy  who  blocked  up  the  doorway,  ami  would  not 
let  him  into  his  own  house,  and  drawing  his  sword, 
he  cut  off  his  head  at  one  blow. 

"When  Saraswati  heard  the  noise,  she  came  run 
ning  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  and  there  she 
found  her  boy,  for  whom  she  had  begun  to  feel 
quite  an  attachment,  without  a  head,  her  husband 
in  a  rage  and  the  place  generally  disordered.  But 
Saraswati  made  such  loud  lamentations  and  tore 
her  hair  so  dreadfully,  flinging  herself  on  the 
ground  and  trying  to  beat  her  brains  out  (the 
Hindoo  style  of  mourning),  that  Vishnu  was 
obliged  to  compose  himself  and  try  to  pacify  his 
wife. 

"  He  told  her  that,  since  she  thought  so  much  of 
the  boy,  he  could  put  his  head  on  again,  and  he 
would  be  just  as  good  as  ever,  but  when  he  looked 
around  for  the  head,  it  could  nowhere  be  found. 
The  body  was  there,  but  no  head,  and  as  Saraswati 
threatened  to  kill  herself  on  the  spot  if  the  boy 
were  not  brought  to  life  again,  Vishnu  ordered  his 
servants  to  go  out  and  bring  him  the  h'rst  head  they 
could  find. 

"  Presently  they  returned  with  an  elephant's  head, 
and  Vishnu  put  this  on  the  boy,  who  came  to  life 


HINDOO  BOYS.  147 

immediately.  Saraswati  thought  even  an  elephant's 
head  better  than  none,  but  she  could  not  help  ac 
knowledging  to  herself  that  the  boy  did  look  rather 
oddly,  so,  to  comfort  him  for  his  want  of  beauty, 
she  made  him  very  wise,  and  ordered  the  people 
everywhere  to  worship  him  as  the  god  of  wisdom. 

"And  now,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "you  have  the 
history  of  a  famous  Hindoo  god  who  is  worshiped 
throughout  India  under  different  names,  and,  silly 
as  the  story  is,  it  is  preferable  to  many  stories  of 
their  gods,  which  are  not  only  silly,  but  vile  and 
disgusting."* 

"And  only  to  think,  ma'am,"  said  Sarah,  "of 
their  worshiping  such  things  !" 

"Aren't  you  glad,  grandmamma,"  asked  Minnie, 
"  that  you,  and  I,  and  all  of  us,  live  in  a  Christian 
country  where  people  don't  worship  idols?" 

Grandmamma  looked  quite  grave  as  she  replied  : 
*'  There  are  different  kinds  of  idol-worship,  Minnie ; 
the  poor  untaught  heathen  bows  down  to  an  image 
that  some  man  has  made  of  wood  or  stone,  and  calls 
it  god,  while  the  Christian  often  makes  an  idol  of 
some  living  object  or  of  his  vanity,  his  love  of 
gain,  his  pride.  Whatever  occupies  his  thoughts 

*  There  are  other  stories  told  to  account  for  the  elephant 
head  of  Gun  mtti,  or  Ganesha,  quite  different  from  this. 


148  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

or  his  affections  more  than  God  is  his  idol.  Th( 
prophet  says, '  Set  not  up  your  idols  in  your  hearts, 
but  I  am  afraid  that  a  great  many  of  us  are  nol 
quite  free  from  this  kind  of  idolatry." 

Harry  thoughtfully  stroked  the  dog's  ears  as  ht 
wondered  if  "Wag"  was  an  idol,  while  Sarah 
blushed  deeply  as  her  eye  fell  upon  the  bright  rib 
bons  and  nicely-fitting  dress  that  took  so  much  of 
her  time  and  thoughts,  and  Minnie  concluded  tc 
ask  grandmamma,  when  they  were  quite  alone,  if 
having  her  hair  crimped  was  making  an  idol  of  it. 

"  What  became  of  the  boy,  grandmamma  ?" 
asked  Harry. 

"  I  wish  that  I  could  tell  you,"  replied  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "  but  I  really  do  not  know.  He  sat 
there  on  the  rock  that  afternoon,  kicking  his  bare 
feet  like  any  other  boy,  and  looking  very  shrewd 
and  smiling  as  he  glanced  up  at  your  grandfather, 
but  he  found  it  difficult  to  understand  about  this 
strange  God  who  was  so  much  wiser  than  Gunputti. 

" '  I  wish  you'd  show  him  to  me,'  said  the  little 
Hindoo,  wistfully  ;  'don't  you  carry  him  about  with 
you?' 

"'Yes,  I  do/  replied  the  missionary,  'and  so  do 
you.  He  often  talks  to  you  when  you  do  not  know 
it.' 


HINDOO  BOYS.  149 

"A  pair  of  great  black  eyes  were  staring  at  him 
in  wonderment,  and  your  grandfather  continued: 
'  When  you  do  anything  wrong,  even  when  no  one 
knows  it,  does  not  something  inside  tell  you  that  it 
is  wrong?' 

"  '  Yes,'  was  the  reply. 

" '  Well,  that  is  the  voice  of  this  great  and 
powerful  God,  who  is  also  very  kind  and  loving, 
and  cares  tenderly  for  the  little  ones  like  you.  He 
has  sent  you,  Ramoo,  a  message  by  me ;  shall  I  tell 
you  what  it  is  ?' 

"'Oh  yes!'  said  the  boy,  with  great  animation. 

"'Well,  then,  he  says  to  you,  My  son,  give  me 
thy  heart,  and  he  will  not  be  satisfied  with  you 
until  you  obey  him.' 

"'But  he  cannot  have  my  heart  without  killing 
me,'  replied  the  poor  little  heathen,  '  and  oh, 
Padre  Sahib,  I  do  not  want  to  die !' 

"  I  think  the  poor  child  almost  expected  to  see 
your  grandfather  take  out  a  sharp  knife  to  make 
an  offering  of  him  on  the  spot,  but  when  his  fears 
were  quieted,  he  listened  eagerly  to  the  missionary's 
story  of  the  loving  Saviour  who,  instead  of  wish 
ing  him  to  die,  had  died  himself  that  he  might  live 
for  ever. 

"  This  boy  could  read,  and  your  grandfather  gave 


150  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA 

him  some  little  books,  and  told  him  that  they  would 
show  him  how  to  find  the  God  of  whom  he  had 
spoken  ;  it  was  then  time  for  the  missionary  to  con 
tinue  his  journey,  but  the  boy's  eyes  followed  him 
until  he  was  quite  out  of  sight. 

"  I  loved  to  hear  his  accounts  of  those  days  when 
he  had  to  travel  alone,  and  I  watched  from  the 
bungalow  for  his  coming,  half  afraid,  often,  that 
something  had  happened,  but  God  always  closed 
the  lion's  mouth,  and  the  missionary  was  wonder 
fully  preserved." 

"  I  did  not  know  that  there  were  lions  in  India, 
grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  innocently. 

"  Not  real  lions,  my  dear  child,"  was  the  reply, 
"  but  this  term  is  often  used  to  express  any  kind 
of  danger.  King  David  says  in  one  of  the  psalms, 
'  My  soul  is  among  lions,'  which  means  that  he  was 
surrounded  by  many  spiritual  dangers." 

"I  like  to  hear  about  the  Hindoo  boys,"  said 
Harry  ;  "  did  grandpapa  meet  any  more  of  them  ?" 

"Yes,"  replied  his  grandmother;  "  he  frequently 
met  them  in  various  ways,  but  I  cannot  remember 
just  what  he  said  to  them  all.  He  told  me,  one 
day,  of  his  meeting  a  little  goorune  and  holding  a 
conversation  with  him." 

"But  didn't  yau  say,  grandmamma,  that  a  goo- 


HINDOO  BOYS.  151 

rune  was  a  priest  who  lived  in  a  family  and  taught 
them  about  religious  things?" 

"  No,  Harry ;  I  said  that  a  gooroo  was  a  teacher, 
or  private  chaplain,  hut  a  goorune  is  a  hoy  who 
sweeps  out  the  temple  and  works  there  under  the 
orders  of  the  Brahmins.  This  little  goorune  had 
just  finished  his  work  for  the  day  when  your 
grandfather  came  upon  him,  and  as  the  boy 
smiled  pleasantly  and  had  a  very  sweet  face,  the 
missionary  stopped  and  asked  him  where  he  lived. 

"  'At  home,'  he  said,  '  with  mother.' 

"  'And  have  you  a  nice,  pleasant  home,'  asked 
your  grandfather,  'and  is  your  mother  kind  to 
you?' 

"  The  boy's  whole  face  brightened  as  he  replied 
that  their  hut  was  nicely  thatched,  so  that  the 
rain  did  not  come  in,  and  they  had  a  cocoanut  tree 
close  by. 

"A  cocoanut  tree  is  almost  wealth  to  people  living 
in  those  Eastern  countries,  for  they  eat  the  fruit 
and  drink  the  milk  of  the  nut,  and  make  the  hard 
shell  into  cups  and  plates,  while  the  leaves  and 
bark  cover  their  houses,  and  are  made  into  clothing, 
and  mats,  and  many  useful  things. 

"  When  the  little  goorune  spoke  of  his  mother, 
the  miasionary  saw  that  he  was  very  fond  of  her. 


152  THE   W1LDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

" '  Yes/  he  said,  '  she  was  a  very  good  mother, 
and  although  she  only  got  a  few  pice  a  day  for 
working  for  some  of  the  sahibs,  she  always  had 
rice  cooked  for  him  when  he  went  home,  and  he 
believed  that  she  would  go  without  herself  to  give 
it  to  him.' 

" '  I  hope,'  continued  the  missionary,  '  that  you 
are  very  obedient  to  this  kind  mother,  and  try  to 
do  everything  that  she  tells  you  ?' 

" '  Yes,'  the  boy  said ;  '  he  did  try,  for  he  loved 
his  mother,  and  she  was  all  he  had.' 

" '  Is  your  father  dead,  then  ?'  asked  the  mis 
sionary. 

"  '  Yes ;  he  had  no  father,'  he  said. 

" '  But  you  really  have  one/  continued  your 
grandfather,  '  though  you  do  not  know  it.' 

"  The  boy  shook  his  head. 

" '  I  saw  my  father  die/  said  he, ( and  then  I  saw 
him  burned.  My  mother  was  going  to  be  burned, 
too,  but  the  government  peons  came  and  took  her 
off  the  pile.  The  Brahmins  held  me  up  to  light 
it,  and  I  was  very  proud  of  this,  for  I  was  only  a 
little  fellow  then.' " 

"Oh,  ma'am,"  exclaimed  Sarah  in  horror,  "is 
this  really  true  ?  Do  they  do  such  dreadful  things 
as  burning  people  like  that?" 


HINDOO   BOYS.  153 

"They  burn  their  dead,"  replied  Mrs.  Wild  ford, 
"and  before  I  went  to  India,  and  for  some  time 
afterward,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a  widow  to  be 
burned  alive  with  the  dead  body  of  her  husband : 
this  was  called  a  suttee;  but  the  English  govern 
ment  has  succeeded  in  putting  a  stop  to  this  crime. 
It  sometimes  take  place  now,  but  only  in  a  very 
secret  manner,  so  that  it  is  not  known  before  it  is 
all  over." 

"  But  what  did  he  mean  by  lighting  the  fire  to 
burn  up  his  father?"  asked  Minnie.  ''What  a 
wicked  little  creature  he  must  have  been  !" 

"  That  is  judging  too  hastily,"  replied  her  grand 
mother  ;  "  the  poor  little  fellow  had  been  taught  that 
this  was  his  duty  and  a  mark  of  respect  to  his 
dead  father.  It  is  the  Hindoo  custom  for  the  oldest 
son  to  set  fire  to  the  burial  pile,  and  it  is  doubly 
sad  to  see  a  child  of  tender  years  held  up  to  per 
form  a  task  at  which  every  natural  feeling  should 
revolt." 

"  Did  not  grandpapa  then  begin  to  tell  the  boy 
of  his  heavenly  Father?"  asked  Harry. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply  ;  "  he  told  him  of  this  lov 
ing  Father  who  watched  over  him  all  the  time,  and 
who  loved  him  far  more  than  his  earthly  father 
eoul:l  have  done. 


154  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"'But  why,  then,  does  he  not  let  me  see  him?' 
asked  the  child,  who  seemed  to  be  of  a  very  affec 
tionate  disposition. 

" '  You  cannot  see  him  now,'  replied  the  mission 
ary,  '  because  he  wishes  you  to  obey  him  without 
seeing  him,  but  he  has  a  beautiful  home  all  ready 
for  you,  and  if  you  are  an  obedient  child,  he  will 
take  you  there  to  live  with  him,  and  then  you 
will  see  him  always.  But  God  does  not  like  to 
have  you  worship  these  idols,'  continued  your 
grandfather,  pointing  to  the  hideous  images  out 
side  of  the  temple ;  '  it  will  not  do  you  any  good  to 
pray  to  pieces  of  wood  and  stone,  and  your  heavenly 
Father  says  that  you  must  pray  only  to  him.' 

" '  But  the  Brahmins  tell  me  that  I  must  pay 
puja  to  Rama,  and  Kali,  and  Gunputti,  and  all 
the  rest  of  them,'  replied  the  boy  ;  {  what,  then,  am 
I  to  do  ?' 

" '  Suppose,'  asked  the  missionary,  '  that  they 
also  told  you  to  leave  your  dear  mother,  or  to  treat 
her  very  badly,  and  to  pile  up  some  stones  and 
call  that  your  mother;  would  you  do  it?' 

"  The  boy's  eyes  were  full  of  tears  as  he  said 
warmly,  '  I  would  not  do  it.  But,  Padre  Sahib,' 
he  added, '  they  say  that  the  Brahmins  cannot  teach 
as  what  is  wrong,  they  are  so  good  and  learned.' 


HINDOO  BOYS.  155 

" '  Here  is  something  that  will  teach  you  better, 
my  poor  child,'  said  the  missionary,  giving  him  a 
copy  of  St.  Luke's  gospel  ;  '  take  this  home  to  your 
mother,  and  if  she  cannot  read,  read  it  to  her.' 

"As  your  grandfather  went  on  his  way  he  heard 
a  great  noise  and  commotion,  and  looking  back, 
he  saw  that  half  a  dozen  noisy  Hindoo  boys  had 
sprung  out  from  behind  the  temple  on  the  little 
goorune,  and  were  tormenting  him  with  hideous 
yells  for  listening  to  the  padre  when  he  talked  of 
the  Christians'  God.  They  tried  to  seize  his  little 
book,  but  he  held  it  fast,  and  running  as  swiftly 
as  his  legs  would  carry  him,  he  soon  got  beyond  his 
tormentors,  and  disappeared  in  a  cocoanut  grove. 
Your  grandfather  wondered  what  mission  that 
Mahratta  translation  of  St.  Luke's  gospel  would 
accomplish  ;  he  had  cast  it  upon  the  waters,  and 
perhaps  it  would  return  to  him  after  many  days. 
The  little  goorune  reminded  him  of  Samuel,  and 
he  prayed  earnestly  that  he  might  be  brought  to 
serve  the  one  true  God  to  whom  Samuel  was  given 
by  his  pious  mother  before  he  was  born. 

"And  now,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  u  I  will  tell  you 
about  the  toddy-wallahs,  and  then  I  think  we 
must  leave  Allabag  and  the  Concan,  and  travel 
back  to  Bombay." 


156  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"What  are  toddy-wallahs?"  asked  Minnie,  look 
ing  very  much  bewildered ;  "are  they  animals?" 

"  They  look  very  much  like  monkeys,"  replied 
her  grandmother,  laughing  at  the  recollection,  "but 
they  are  really  men,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  they 
do.  Can  you  tell  me  what  toddy  is  ?" 

"  I  know,"  said  Harry ;  "  it's  something  that 
makes  people  drunk." 

"  In  this  country  it  is  made  of  rum,  hot  water 
and  sugar,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  it  does, 
as  you  say,  make  people  drunk.  But  what  would  you 
think  if  I  should  tell  you  that  toddy  grows  in  India 
already  made?" 

"  I  should  believe  it,  of  course,  if  you  said  it, 
grandmamma,"  replied  Harry,  quite  gravely,  "  but 
I  should  think  it  a  very  queer  story." 

"  Well,  I  do  not  like  to  tell  queer  stories,  Harry  ^ 
but  this  one  is  really  true.  There  is  a  kind  of 
palm  tree  in  India  called  the  toddy  palm,  the  sap 
of  which  really  makes  an  intoxicating  drink,  but 
not  until  it  has  been  distilled.  When  this  sap  is 
quite  fresh,  it  is  very  cooling  and  delightful,  and 
I  have  often  been  glad  of  a  draught  of  it  after  a 
long  walk  or  ride  in  the  hot  sun.  The  men  who 
gather  the  sap  are  called  toddy-wallahs,  and  very 
curious-looking  objects  they  are.  They  wear  no 


fc 


Toonr  WALLAHS. 


p.  157. 


HINDOO  BOYS.  157 

clothing  but  the  cummer-bund,  or  waist-cloth,  to 
which  a  large  gourd  is  tied,  and  hangs  down  be 
hind  ;  they  carry  a  sort  of  hooked  knife  to  cut  the 
bark,  and,  thus  equipped,  they  climb  the  trees  like 
monkeys,  and  keep  up  a  very  funny  kind  of  sing 
ing  all  the  time  they  are  at  work." 

"  What  do  they  do  with  the  gourds  ?"  asked 
Minnie. 

"  Why,  you  goosie,"  cried  Harry,  "  they  were 
to  put  the  sap  in." 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  AVildford,  "these  gourds  were 
their  pitchers.  Your  dear  grandfather  often 
preached  to  the  toddy-wallahs,  but  when  some 
of  them  thought  of  becoming  Christians,  they 
were  very  muoh  troubled  about  keeping  Sunday, 
for  the  general  belief  is  that  if  these  trees  are  left 
for  a  day  after  the  tapping  has  begun,  the  toddy 
will  be  spoiled.  Some  of  them  concluded  to  try  it, 
though,  and  they  were  delighted  to  find  that  they 
got  on  quite  as  well  as  the  others.  What  is  my 
little  Minnie  thinking  so  deeply  about?" 

"  Why,  I  was  thinking,"  she  replied,  timidly, 
"  that  grandpapa  must  have  had  to  scream  very 
loud  to  preach  to  those  toddy  men  up  in  the  trees." 

"  He  did  not  try  it,  my  dear,"  replied  her  grand 
mother,  smiling,  *'  until  they  were  a  little  nearei 


158  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

his  own  level.  They  did  not  remain  altogether  in 
the  trees,  as  they  were  frequently  on  the  ground  to 
empty  their  gourds  into  larger  vessels,  and  some 
times  they  were  squatted  in  groups  eating  their 
dinners.  Your  grandpapa  had  too  much  work  for 
his  voice  to  send  it  any  unnecessary  distance.  And 
now  that  I  have  told  you  about  the  toddy-wallahs, 
I  wonder  if  any  one  can  tell  me  where  to  look  for 
a  good  seamstress  ?" 

Sarah  glanced  up  in  surprise,  and  Minnie 
nestled  close  to  her  grandmamma  to  hear  what  else 
was  to  be  added  to  this  curious  question. 

"I  have  two  handkerchiefs  that  need  hemming," 
continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  the  money  is  to  go 
to  the  missionaries." 

"  I  wish  I  could  sew,"  said  Harry,  regretfully ; 
"  I  can't  have  a  missionary  hen,  nor  anything." 

"  Do  not  be  discouraged,"  replied  his  grand 
mamma;  "  if  you  really  have  the  wish  to  be  useful, 
the  way  will  be  opened  after  a  while.  Now,  Min 
nie,  what  about  the  handkerchiefs?" 

"Why,  grandmamma,"  said  the  little  girl,  re 
gretting  her  impatience  when  Sarah  had  tried  to 
teach  her  to  use  her  needle  properly,  "  I  don't  sew 
very  nicely,  you  know,  but  I  should  like  to  try,  if 
I  may." 


HINDOO  BOYS.  159 

"Do  your  best,  my  child/'  said  Mrs.  Wildford, 
with  a  kiss,  "and  if  the  handkerchiefs  are  done 
entirely  by  yourself,  I  will  pay  you  ten  cents 
apiece  for  them  when  they  are  finished." 

Mrs.  Bolton  pronounced  this  an  exorbitant  price, 
and  declared  that  grandmamma  would  certainly  be 
ruined,  but  as  Minnie's  slow,  unpracticed  fingers 
plodded  over  the  task,  now  picking  out  what  she 
had  done,  and  now  sighing  over  the  soiled  appear 
ance  of  her  work,  it  seemed  to  her  that  a  dollar  a 
handkerchief  would  scarcely  pay  for  the  labor  and 
worry. 

But  the  little  girl  was  gaining  more  than  the 
missionary  money,  and  grandmamma  had  thought 
of  this  when  she  proposed  the  task ;  she  was  gain 
ing  habits  of  industry  and  perseverance,  and  the 
sweet  consciousness  of  being  of  some  use  in  the 
world. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   RAINY    SEASON. 

ERE  it's  been  pouring  for  two  days,"  said 
H^H"  Harry,  discontentedly,  "and  I  can't  use 
my  velocipede,  nor  have  any  fun  in  the 
park  with  Wag,  and  it's  awful  stupid  for 
a  boy  to  be  poking  round  in  the  house  all  the 
time." 

"  Well,  Harry,"  said  his  grandmamma,  "I  have 
seen  sixty  Aprils,  and  I  never  yet  saw  an  April 
without  rain.  When  the  sun  shines  out  again,  you 
will  see  how  everything  will  sprout  and  shoot  up 
above  the  ground.  It  is  just  the  right  kind  of 
weather  for  your  radishes." 

Harry's  face  brightened  a  little;  he  was  very 
much  interested  in  a  square  plot  of  ground  that  his 
father  had  given  him  to  cultivate,  and  his  first  crop 
was  to  be  radishes.  His  mother  had  promised  to 
buy  all  that  he  could  raise,  and  he  anticipated 
quite  a  little  fortune  for  the  missionary  cause. 
Still,  he  was  not  fully  reconciled  to  the  rain,  and 

160 


THE  EAINY  SEASON.  161 

as  the  large  drops  plashed  against  the  window  from 
which  he  was  gazing  on  the  wet  park,  he  continued 
fretfully  : 

"  But  it  rains  all  the  time  when  I  have  holiday  : 
it  rained  ever  so  much  in  Christmas  week ;  and  I 
know  it  won't  stop  for  a  month !" 

"  I  think  rainy  days  are  nice,"  said  Minnie,  who 
was  busy  with  her  handkerchiefs ;  "  you  can  get  so 
much  work  done." 

Harry  laughed  outright. 

"A  whole  week  hemming  two  handkerchiefs !" 
said  he,  scornfully;  "you'll  get  rich  fast." 

"Minnie  is  doing  a  great  deal  more  than  hem 
ming  two  handkerchiefs,"  replied  her  grandmamma, 
kindly,  as  she  glanced  at  the  disturbed  little  face; 
"  she  is  learning  how  to  work,  and  the  next  hand 
kerchiefs  wil)  be  easier.  But  what  would  you 
think,  Mr.  Grumbler,  of  four  months  of  rain?" 

"  Four  months  ?"  repeated  Harry — "  not  one  clear 
day  in  four  months?" 

"  Not  many  quite  clear  days,"  was  the  reply.  "  In 
Western  India  the  monsoon,  or  rainy  season,  begins 
in  May,  and  it  rains  some  part  of  almost  every  day 
all  the  time  that  people  here  are  enjoying  the  beau 
tiful  summer.  And  such  rain  !  It  comes  down  in 

perfect  torrents,  as  if  a  quantity  of  pipes  were  being 
11 


162  THE    W1LDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

emptied  at  once.  A  second  or  two  will  get  a 
person  thoroughly  drenched  if  out  in  the  rain  in 
India." 

"  They  must  look  like  drowned  rats,"  said 
Harry. 

"They  look  more  like  very  wet  human  beings/' 
was  the  reply. 

"  But  don't  people  get  drowned  there  when 
they  go  out  to  walk  after  it  has  rained  ?"  asked 
Minnie. 

"No,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "for  all  this 
water  does  not  remain  on  the  top  of  the  ground. 
It  soaks  into  the  earth,  or  flows  away,  just  as  it 
does  here,  and  the  hot  Indian  sun  dries  the  ground 
so  soon  that  in  a  very  little  while  after  one  of 
these  drenching  showers  you  would  scarcely  think 
it  had  rained  at  all.  We  know,  however,  that  a 
great  deal  of  water  has  fallen  by  looking  at  the 
rain-guage." 

"  What  is  that,  grandmamma?"  asked  Harry. 

"It  is  an  instrument  for  marking  the  rain,  as 
the  thermometer  marks  the  heat  or  cold  and  the 
barometer  the  weather.  By  putting  it  where  the 
water  can  reach  certain  marks,  it  is  known  how 
much  rain  falls  on  a  level  during  each  day ;  this  is 
added  up  at  the  end  of  the  season,  and  so  they 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  163 

find  out  how  much  rain  falls  in  the  course  of  a 
year." 

"  How  much  is  it,  grandmamma?"  was  the  next 
question. 

"  It  varies  in  different  parts  of  India;  some  por 
tions  of  the  country  have  much  more  rain  than 
others.  In  Bombay,  if  all  the  rain  that  falls  from 
May  till  October  were  on  the  ground  at  once,  it 
would  make  a  lake  eighty  or  ninety  inches  deep. 
How  many  feet  is  that,  Harry  ?" 

"  Twelve  inches  one  foot,"  said  Harry,  going 
over  his  tables ;  "  why  that  would  be  six  or  seven 
feet — enough  to  drown  us  all." 

"  It  is  still  deeper  in  Calcutta,"  continued  his 
grandmamma,  "  which  is  much  farther  east  than 
Bombay ;  there  they  have  a  hundred  and  eighteen 
inches  of  rain  in  the  course  of  the  year,  and  at  the 
Mahableshwar  hills,  of  which  I  am  going  to  tell 
you  when  I  come  to  my  journey  there,  the  year's 
rain  would  cover  a  level  place  three  hundred  inches, 
or  twenty-five  feet,  deep." 

"Oh,"  said  Minnie,  "what  a  dreadful  place!  I 
should  be  afraid  of  being  drowned  all  the  time." 

"  But  very  little  of  this  water  falls  in  one  day," 
replied  Mrs.  Wild  ford ;  "an  inch  in  twenty-four 
hours  is  considered  a  very  heavy  rain.  Sometimes, 


164  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

however,  there  is  a  great  deal  more  than  this  in  a 
day;  in  Bombay  as  much  as  ten  inches  has  fallen 
in  a  day,  and  then  there  have  been  floods  which 
destroyed  property  and  lives." 

"Where  does  the  rain  all  come  from?"  asked 
Minnie;  "I  never  could  tell." 

"  Why,  it  comes  from  the  clouds,  of  course,"  said 
Harry,  quite  importantly;  "don't  you  see  it  pour 
ing  down  now  ?" 

"  But  how  does  it  get  into  the  clouds,"  con 
tinued  his  sister,  in  great  perplexity,  "  and  what 
keeps  it  from  coming  down  all  the  time?" 

"Answer  that,  if  you  can,  Master  Harry,"  said 
his  grandmamma;  "it  is  very  easy  to  say  that  the 
rain  comes  from  the  clouds,  but  how  does  it  get 
there?" 

Harry  looked  somewhat  confused,  and  Mrs. 
Wildford  continued :  "  I  am  afraid  you  do  not 
know  quite  as  much  as  you  would  have  us  suppose. 
The  rain  comes  from  the  ocean.  The  water  of  the 
ocean  evaporates,  or  rises  from  it  in  the  form  of 
vapor,  and  this  vapor  goes  up  into  the  clouds. 
The  great  heat  in  tropical  countries  makes  a  great 
deal  of  vapor,  and  as  much  as  twenty  feet,  of 
water  evaporates  from  the  Indian  Ocean  every  year. 
The  air  becomes  heavy  and  wet  with  all  this  water, 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  165 

and  during  the  four  months  of  the  rainy  season  the 
wind  blows  from  the  south-west,  and  this  warm  air 
and  its  moisture  are  sent  over  the  land.  There  it 
strikes  the  hills  and  is  cooled  so  that  it  holds  less 
water,  and  down  falls  the  rain.  In  this  way  the 
great  amount  of  water  that  falls  in  rain  is  brought 
by  the  wind  from  the  distant  ocean  ;  it  comes  in 
the  form  of  vapor,  and  in  this  form  it  travels  a 
long  distance." 

"Thank  you,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie;  "I 
am  so  glad  that  I  know  something  about  rain  now, 
and  how  it  gets  into  the  clouds.  I  can  understand 
now,  too,  why  it  is  so  damp  just  before  it  rains :  it 
is  because  the  wet  vapor  is  coming  over  to  us  from 
the  ocean." 

"  But  only  think  of  four  months  of  wet  vapor !" 
exclaimed  Harry  ;  "  did  you  not  get  very  tired  of  it, 
grandmamma?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  with  a  smile, 
"but  I  think  I  told  you  how  I  managed  with  in 
curable  things — I  made  the  best  of  them.  One  of 
the  worst  phases  of  the  rainy  season  occurs  in  the 
oeginning  of  it;  during  the  first  ten  days  or  so  all 
the  crawling  creatures  that  ever  were  seen  or  heard 
of  seem  to  come  to  light,  and  they  become  so 
frightfully  active  that  there  is  no  comfort  in  being 


166  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

in  the  house,  and  it  is  equally  uncomfortable  to 
stay  out  in  the  rain.  Scorpions,  centipedes,  huge 
spiders,  lizards,  cockroaches,  beetles — " 

"Oh,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  "I  feel  them 
crawling  all  over  me." 

"It's  jolly!"  exclaimed  Harry,  in  great  glee; 
'what  fun  it  must  have  been  to  watch  'em  all! 
Where  were  they,  grandmamma? — on  the  walls?" 

"Sometimes,"  was  the  reply,  "and  sometimes 
they  would  run  across  the  floor  so  quickly  that  one 
scarcely  saw  them  before  they  were  gone.  I  re 
member  a  very  long  centipede  that  made  me  a  visit 
when  your  mother  was  a  baby.  Her  silver  mug, 
with  a  little  milk  in  the  bottom  of  it,  was  left  on 
the  table  in  my  dressing-room  after  she  had  taken 
her  supper,  and  when  I  went  to  get  the  cup,  I 
saw  the  tail  of  a  centipede  hanging  over  the  edge. 
He  had  gone  down,  head  foremost,  after  the  milk, 
but  he  was  so  long  that  the  cup  would  not  accom 
modate  him.  Don't  look  so  frightened,  Minnie ;  he 
did  not  bite  me.  I  called  the  khitmutgar,  or  foot 
man,  who,  fortunately,  happened  to  be  a  Mussul 
man,  and  he  soon  despatched  him." 

"  But  what  had  his  being  a  Mussulman  to  do 
with  it,  grandmamma?" 

"A  great  deal,  my  dear,  as  every  one  who  goes 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  167 

to  India  soon  discovers.  Many  of  the  Hindoo 
castes  will  not  kill  the  most  obnoxious  insect,  for  it 
is  contrary  to  their  religion,  and  I  have  seen  my 
Brahmin  pundit,  while  he  was  teaching  me  the 
language,  pick  up  very  objectionable  insects  that 
were  traveling  over  his  dress  and  throw  them  out 
of  the  window.  His  religion  would  not  allow  him 
to  kill  them,  and  as  he  knew  that  I  objected  to 
them,  he  thought  he  had  done  his  duty  by  remov 
ing  them  from  one  place  to  another.  But  as  ver 
min  of  all  sorts  abound  in  India,  my  feelings,  as 
I  watched  his  proceedings,  were  not  very  pleasant." 

"  Why,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  quite  re 
proachfully,  "you  did  not  tell  us  anything  about 
your  Brahmin  pundit.  What  was  he  like?" 

"  No,  indeed  !"  chimed  in  Harry  ;  "  please  let  us 
hear  alx>ut  him." 

"  I  really  thought  I  had  spoken  of  him,"  said 
Mrs.  Wildford,  "I  have  told  you  so  much,  but  if 
you  have  not  heard  of  my  pundit,  I  must  try  to 
make  up  for  the  omission.  And  here  comes  Sarah 
just  in  time  to  hear  the  description." 

"  But  you  haven't  heard  about  the  rain  in  India, 
Sarah,"  said  Minnie,  regretfully ;  "  it  is  too  bad  you 
missed  that !" 

"  Yes,"  said   Harry,   "  it  was  something  worth 


168  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

hearing,  I  can  tell  you,  Sarah ;  rain  in  India  isn't 
to  be  sneezed  at — regular  cats,  and  dogs,  and  pitch 
forks." 

Sarah  looked  quite  bewildered,  and  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford  replied:  "I  do  not  recognize  my  description 
at  all,  Harry ;  when  you  were  in  India,  the  storms 
must  have  been  different.  I  have  been  speaking, 
Sarah,  of  the  monsoon,  or  rainy  season  in  India, 
which  lasts  four  months,  and  the  rain  often  comes 
down  with  great  violence,  while  the  thunder  and 
lightning  are  very  severe.  This  led  to  the  scor 
pions,  centipedes,  spiders,  etc.,  that  are  particularly 
lively  at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season,  and 
from  that  we  went  to  the  Brahmin  pundit  who 
taught  me  the  language,  and  the  children  now 
want  a  description  of  him.  This  man  was  a  small, 
fiery  sort  of  a  fellow,  with  very  delicate  hands  and 
feet,  and  quite  polished  in  his  manners.  He  was 
very  bigoted,  and  full  of  his  importance  as  a  Brah 
min  pundit,  which  is  quite  a  different  thing  from 
being  only  an  ordinary  teacher." 

"But  I  should  not  think,"  said  Harry,  "that 
such  a  great  man  among  the  Hindoos  would  have 
been  willing  to  teach  a  Christian." 

"The  Hindoos,"  replied  his  grandmamma,  "are 
very  fond  of  rupees,  and  most  of  them  will  do  any- 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  169 

thing  that  will  not  injure  their  caste  for  the  sake 
of  money.  This  Brahmin  who  taught  me  came 
from  a  distant  town,  and  to  get  to  Bombay  he  had 
to  take  a  sea-voyage  of  three  or  four  days;  in  all 
that  time  no  food  passed  his  lips.  He  could  not 
oat  while  in  the  ship,  he  said,  because  that  would 
not  have  been  allowable  for  him.  When  I  asked 
him  why,  he  replied  that,  on  the  ship,  he  could  not 
pay  puja  to  his  god,  nor  bathe  himself,  which  are 
regular  observances  before  meals,  and  to  omit  these 
would  have  injured  his  caste." 

"  He  must  have  been  hungry  when  he  got  to 
Bombay,"  said  Minnie. 

"  He  probably  was,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  but 
even  then,  Minnie,  he  could  not  have  been  induced 
to  eat  the  nice  piece  of  beef  that  you  seemed  to  en 
joy  so  much  at  dinner  to-day." 

"  Why,  what  was  the  matter  then  ?"  asked 
Harry,  in  surprise ;  "  didn't  he  get  all  washed  and 
fixed?  I'm  glad  I  am  not  a  Brahmin  pundit,  to 
have  to  bathe  before  every  meal !  It  comes  hard 
enough  on  a  fellow  once  a  day." 

"  Meat  was  forbidden  by  the  Brahmin's  religion," 
continued  his  grandmamma,  "and  as  the  Hindoos 
consider  the  cow  and  ox  sacred  animals,  they  will 
tremble  and  turn  livid  when  they  pass  a  stall  where 


170  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

beef  is  sold,  even  spitting  on  the  ground,  as  though 
the  air  contaminated  them.  One  of  their  strongest 
terms  of  abuse  is,  '  Beef-eating  Christian.'  But  to 
return  to  my  Brahmin  pundit:  he  always  entered  and 
left  the  room  with  a  very  polite  salaam,  and  went 
at  his  work  in  quite  a  systematic  way.  He  sat  at 
my  left  hand,  so  that  I  could  use  the  other  for 
writing,  and  we  spent  two  or  three  busy  hours  to 
gether  every  day.  He  was  a  great  talker,  and 
sometimes  he  laughed  quite  heartily  at  things  that 
I  said  to  him.  I  often  wondered  if  he  did  not 
think  it  excessively  funny  for  a  man  of  his  great 
learning  to  be  teaching  a  woman,  and  one  day  I 
asked  him  this. 

"He  replied,  sorrowfully,  that  it  was  very  dis 
graceful  indeed. 

" '  What  do  you  think  would  be  less  so  ?'  I  in 
quired." 

"  Why  didn't  you  order  him  out  of  the  house, 
grandmamma  ?"  said  Harry,  in  quite  a  state  of  ex 
citement;  "the  impudent  fellow!  to  speak  in  that 
way  to  a  lady,  and  my  grandmamma !" 

"  I  was  not  your  grandmamma  then,  dear,"  was 
the  reply,  "  and  I  did  not  even  know  of  the  honor 
in  store  for  me.  But  seriously,  Harry,  I  did  not 
turn  my  teache1  out  of  the  house,  because  that  would 


THE  RAINY    REASON.  171 

have  been  a  very  foolish  proceeding  and  a  decided 
hindrance  to  my  learning  the  language.  His  feel 
ing  about  teaching  a  woman  was  not  peculiar  to 
himself:  it  was  the  feeling  of  his  whole  race.  I 
was  sorry  for  him,  but  I  did  not  get  in  the  least 
angry ;  indeed,  he  amused  me  very  much,  and  I 
had  many  a  good  laugh  in  those  study-hours.  Your 
dear  grandfather  used  to  say  that  he  felt  very  much 
like  coming  to  see  what  was  going  on  when  he 
heard  the  laughter;  his  pundit  was  quite  old,  and  a 
very  grave,  stupid  sort  of  fellow." 

"Did  the  Brahmin  pundit  who  taught  you  an 
swer  that  question  you  asked  him,  grandmamma  ?" 
said  Minnie. 

"  Yes,  my  dear ;  he  answered  it  in  quite  an  un 
expected  fashion  :  it  would  be  less  disgraceful,  he 
said,  for  him  to  take  off  his  turban,  throw  the  end 
of  his  purdikah  over  his  head,  fasten  a  bag  to  his 
cummer-bund,  and  taking  a  pair  of  cymbals  in  his 
hands  to  strike  together  and  let  people  know  that 
he  was  coming,  pass  thiongh  the  town  as  a  religious 
beggar,  and  gather  into  his  bag  the  offerings  of 
rice,  fruit,  etc.,  that  would  be  given  him  at  almost 
every  house.  I  see,  Minnie,  that  you  wish  me  to 
explain  what  a  purdikah  is;  here  is  one  to  speak 
for  itself." 


172  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"Why,  it's  like  Miss  Minnie's  dress,  ma'am," 
said  Sarah. 

Yes,  the  soft  India  muslin  was  just  the  same,  for 
the  dress  of  which  Sarah  spoke  had  been  a  present 
to  the  missionary  from  a  converted  Brahmin,  and 
the  purdikah  was  nothing  more  than  several  yards 
of  this  material  with  a  narrow  bordering  of  pink. 

"This  purdikah,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "is 
thrown  gracefully  over  the  left  shoulder,  as  you 
will  see  by  this  photograph,  in  which  are  several 
Brahmins." 

"  Hindoos  of  the  highest  caste,"  was  printed  on 
the  back  of  the  picture ;  "  Idolaters,  as  the  marks 
on  the  forehead  show." 

"The  Brahmins,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford, 
"consider  the  purdikah  such  a  sacred  garment  that 
they  will  not  let  their  wives  touch  it;  they  wash  it 
and  hang  it  out  themselves." 

"  I'd  like  to  see  'em  at  the  ironing  of  it,"  said 
Sarah,  rather  grimly. 

"  I  do  not  think  it  is  ironed,"  was  the  reply ;  "  I 
believe  it  is  only  pulled  out  as  smoothly  as  possi 
ble  while  yet  damp." 

"Now  tell  us  about  the  pundit,  grandmamma," 
said  Minnie,  who  began  to  fear  that  they  would 
not  hear  much  of  him  after  all. 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  173 

"  I  have  not  forgotten  him,  Minnie,  and  I  be 
lieve  I  left  off  at  his  description  of  himself  as  a 
beggar.  When  he  made  me  this  uncomplimentary 
reply,  I  asked  him  why  he  did  not  become  a  men 
dicant,  then,  if  it  was  less  disgraceful  than  teaching 
me. 

"  He  shrugged  his  shoulders  in  quite  a  French 
way  as  he  said  that  one  must  live — so  many  Brah 
mins  had  been  thrown  out  of  employment  since  the 
English  sirkahs  had  been  in  power.  The  peish- 
wars,  or  native  sovereigns,  used  to  have  the  Brah 
mins  about  their  courts,  but  their  provinces  were 
now  so  much  smaller  than  they  used  to  be  that 
they  could  not  support  so  many  Brahmins,  who 
were  obliged  to  seek  other  pursuits. 

"Sometimes  I  would  ask  my  pundit  about  his 
wives  and  children,  and  he  would  answer  my  ques 
tions,  but  I  could  not  be  at  all  sure  that  he  was 
telling  me  the  truth.  If  one  of  his  own  race  had 
asked  him  about  his  family,  he  would  have  re 
sented  it  as  an  insult,  but  he  knew  that  Christians 
had  different  customs,  and  that  they  were  in  the 
habit  of  asking  such  questions.  I  do  not  know 
that  there  is  any  more  to  tell  you  about  my  Brah 
min  pundit,  but  I  was  just  going  to  tell  you  of  a 
quantity  of  scoroions  that  were  once  brought  to 


174  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

your  grandfather  when  you  asked  me  about  the 
pundit." 

"Oh,  do,  grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  with  great 
interest;  "but  what  did  grandpapa  want  with  a  lot 
of  scorpions  ?" 

"  He  did  not  want  a  lot  of  them,"  was  the  reply ; 
"  he  wanted  two  specimens  of  a  large  black  scorpion, 
different  from  the  ordinary  white  scorpion,  that  is 
found  on  the  outside  of  houses,  and  often  on  trees. 
He  wished  to  preserve  these  in  alcohol  for  scientific 
purposes,  and  he  told  one  of  the  boys  in  school  to 
bring  him  two  of  these  scorpions,  and  he  would 
give  him  six  pice.  A  day  or  two  afterward  he  was 
sitting  in  his  study,  a  one-roomed  building  off  from 
the  house,  when  he  saw  quite  a  procession  coming 
toward  him,  consisting  of  the  boy  who  was  to  get 
the  scorpions,  the  boy's  father  and  mother,  two 
little  brothers  and  a  sister.  Each  member  of  the 
family  carried  an  earthenware  jar,  which  they 
placed  on  the  ground,  while  the  boy  said  very 
gravely,  'Scorpions,  sahib.' 

"  Your  grandfather's  mind  was  full  of  a  very 
tangled  piece  of  Hindostanee  that  he  had  been 
studying,  and  for  some  moments  he  could  not  un 
derstand  what  all  this  meant,  but  when  the  father 
of  the  family  ventured  to  repeat  mildly,  '  Scor- 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  175 

pions.  Padre  Sahib — plenty,  big  and  little,'  it  opened 
his  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  whole  family,  who  were 
low  caste  and  very  poor,  had  gone  on  a  regular 
scorpion  hunt  under  the  supposition  that  if  the 
padre  had  promised  six  pice  for  two  of  the  reptiles, 
he  would  be  very  much  delighted  with  a  hundred, 
and  would  probably  pay  them  enough  to  buy  rice 
for  the  whole  season. 

"  They  were  on  the  point  of  unfastening  all  the 
jars  at  once  and  displaying  their  treasures,  but  your 
grandfather  forbade  this,  and  declared  that  he  would 
only  take  the  two  he  had  ordered.  These  were 
enormous  fellows,  and  when  they  were  set  at  lib 
erty,  they  scampered  across  the  room  like  a  flash  ; 
their  liveliness,  however,  was  soon  subdued,  and 
they  were  captured  and  safely  lodged  in  a  jar,  when 
they  were  soon  drowned  in  alcohol.  The  boy  got 
his  six  pice,  but  the  rest  of  the  family  departed  in 
a  state  of  sad  resignation,  carrying  their  scorpions 
with  them.  When  your  grandfather  told  me  of 
this  visit,  I  felt  exceedingly  glad  that  the  study  did 
not  communicate  with  the  house." 

"  I  should  think  the  scorpions  would  have  stung 
the  people  who  caught  them,"  said  Minnie. 

"  They  know  how  to  take  them  up,"  replied 
her  grandmamma,  "to  avoid  being  stung.  You 


THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

thought  a  bee-sting  very  bad  last  summer,  little 
granddaughter,  but  the  sting  of  a  scorpion  is  so 
severe  that  strong,  brave  men  actually  cry  with 
the  fearful  pain,  which  lasts  six  or  eight  hours." 

"  I  never  could  go  to  India !"  exclaimed  Minnie, 
vehemently ;  "  I  do  hope  that  no  one  will  ever  tell 
me  it  is  my  duty." 

"  Perhaps  you  will  tell  yourself  so  some  day," 
replied  Mrs.  Wildford;  "who  knows?  But  now 
that  I  have  told  you  of  the  unpleasant  things  the 
rainy  season  brought  us,  I  must  tell  you  of  some 
thing  very  sweet  the  rainy  season,  after  our  return 
from  Allabag,  brought  to  me.  Here  is  a  picture 
of  it." 

"  Why,  it's  a  little  baby  !"  said  Minnie,  "and  it 
has  a  cap  on.  How  funny  !" 

"Was  it  mamma?"  asked  Harry,  eagerly. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply;  "your  mamma  was  once 
that  baby,  my  little  Ada,  and  she  came  to  us  in 
the  rainy  season  like  a  bright,  beautiful  flower  or 
a  gleam  of  sunshine.  Your  grandpapa  told  me 
how  the  Hindoo  servants  greeted  him,  the  morning 
after  she  was  born,  with  a  very  low  salaam  and 
sad,  sympathizing  faces,  as  they  said  respectfully 
that  they  presented  their  best  condolences  to  the 
Padre  Sahib." 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  177 

"Didn't  they  mean  congratulations?"  asked 
Harry. 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  his  grandmamma;  "they 
meant  just  what  they  said.  The  Hindoos  con 
sider  it  a  great  misfortune  to  have  a  daughter  born 
to  them  ;  if  asked  how  many  children  he  has,  a 
man  will  reply, 'One  child,  and  two  girls.'  The 
cap  that  amuses  you  so  much  in  the  picture,  Min 
nie,  was  always  worn  by  children  then,  and  the 
bare  heads  that  we  see  on  babies  now  would  have 
been  thought  very  ugly  in  those  days.  This  cap 
was  beautifully  embroidered  and  trimmed  with  rich 
lace ;  it  was  the  gift  of  a  kind  English  lady  in 
Bombay." 

"  Did  mamma  have  a  nice  white  nurse  to  take 
care  of  her  in  India  ?"  asked  Minnie. 

"No,"  replied  her  grandmamma;  "she  had  a 
very  funny  little  black  nurse,  a  girl  about  four 
teen  years  old." 

"A  Hindoo  girl,  grandmamma?" 

"  No ;  Lilly  was  a  regular  negro  girl,  whom  we 
got  from  a  slave-ship  that  was  captured  by  the 
English  government  just  off  the  coast  of  Bombay. 
She  was  a  very  faithful  little  creature,  very  black 
and  ugly  in  appearance,  and  she  performed  the 
most  curious  antics  to  amuse  her  iittle  charge  that 
12 


178  THE   WILT) FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

I  ever  saw  accomplished  by  any  human  being. 
The  baby  liked  the  entertainment,  though,  and 
would  crow  with  delight  whenever  Lilly  began  to 
twist  her  eyes  and  make  up  her  curious  faces." 

"  Grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  suddenly,  "  did 
you  not  tell  me  once  that  this  great  bowl  was  an 
ostrich's  egg  ?" 

It  looked  like  thick  china,  and  was  very  pret 
tily  gilded  and  arranged  as  a  bowl. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  with  a  smile, 
"  but  that  is  a  rather  sudden  jump,  Minnie,  from 
your  mamma's  little  black  nurse  to  an  ostrich's 

egg-" 

"Well,  I  just  happened  to  look  at  it  while  you 
were  speaking,"  replied  the  little  girl,  "and  I  have 
always  forgotten  to  ask  you  about  it." 

"  I  think,"  continued  her  grandmamma,  "  that 
you  have  remembered  to  ask  me  about  as  much  as 
I  could  possibly  tell  you  in  the  time.  Now,  do 
not  prick  up  your  ears,  Harry,  and  expect  to  hear 
of  an  ostrich  hunt,  for  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind 
to  tell." 

"  It  is  Wag  who  is  pricking  up  his  ears,"  re 
plied  Harry,  laughing.  "  Just  look  at  him  now, 
grandmamma ;  he  really  thinks  you  are  talking  to 
him." 


THE  RAINY  SEASON.  179 

Having  admired  Wag  sufficiently  to  satisfy  his 
master,  Mrs.  Wildford  said,  as  she  took  up  the 
curious-looking  bowl :  "  Yes,  this  was  once  an  egg, 
and  you  can  see  how  large  it  must  have  been,  by 
what  is  left  of  it  now." 

"And  did  a  bird  really  lay  such  an  egg  as  that, 
ma'am  ?"  asked  Sarah,  in  surprise.  "  The  birds  in 
India  must  be  a  great  deal  larger  even  than  the 
Shanghais." 

"But  the  ostrich  is  not  an  Indian  bird  at  all," 
replied  Mrs.  Wildford  ;  "it  is  found  only  in  Africa. 
The  ostrich  that  laid  this  egg  was  kept  in  a  private 
compound  in  Bombay  as  a  great  curiosity." 

"Compound  means  garden  or  grounds,  Sarah," 
said  Minnie,  quite  importantly ;  "  grandmamma  told 
us  all  about  it." 

"People  of  wealth  in  India,"  continued  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "  often  keep  a  large  collection  of  foreign 
animals — quite  a  menagerie,  indeed — and  they  are 
very  proud  of  showing  them  to  strangers." 

"Oh,  yes,  grandmmatnma,"  said  Harry,  "I  re 
member  about  the  dewan's  animals  at  Allabag, 
where  you  saw  so  many  elephants.  I'll  tell  you 
all  about  that,  Sarah,  some  day  ;  I  guess  it's  time  to 
kiss  the  family  now,  and  go  to  bed." 

"  You  speak  as  though  kissing  the  family  were 


180  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

quite  a  piece  of  work,"  said  his  grandmamma,  and, 
somehow,  Harry  did  seem  to  make  a  piece  of  work 
of  it  with  her. 

"Sarah,"  said  Minnie,  whose  curiosity  had  been 
very  much  excited  by  some  soft,  pretty  knitting- 
work  that  the  neat  maid  was  very  careful  not  to  get 
soiled,  "are  you  making  something  for  me?" 

"  No,  Miss  Minnie,"  was  the  reply ;  "  it  is  not  for 
you." 

"  Who  is  it  for,  then  ?"  in  a  tone  of  disappoint 
ment. 

"  Well,  that  is  a  secret,"  said  Sarah,  in  some  con 
fusion  ;  "  I  don't  quite  know,  myself." 

A  little  while  ago,  Minnie  would  have  told  the 
waiting-maid  that  she  was  "  real  hateful  "  in  not 
gratifying  her  curiosity,  but  she  had  learned  to  be 
ashamed  of  such  conduct,  and  she  said  nothing 
more,  though  wondering  very  much  for  whom 
Sarah  could  be  working,  and  why  she  didn't  know 
herself. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE   STORY   OF    GUNQA. 

THINK/'  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  when  the 
little  party  were  assembled  next  day, 
"  that  it  is  quite  time  for  me  to  give  you 
an  account  of  some  of  our  little  Hindoo 
scholars.  There  were  a  number  of  interesting 
children  among  them,  and  there  is  one  girl  in 
particular  of  whom  I  have  been  thinking  a  great 
deal  to-day." 

"  I  am  so  glad,  grandmamma !"  exclaimed  Min 
nie  ;  "  I  want  ever  so  much  to  hear  about  some  of 
the  little  girls  in  your  school." 

"  Girls  are  not  half  as  nice  as  boys,"  observed 
Harry,  "  but  I  suppose  that  there  have  to  be  some 
girls  in  the  world." 

He  glanced  mischievously  at  his  sister  to  see  how 
she  liked  this,  but  Minnie  would  not  look  at  him. 

"  This  is  quite  a  story,"  continued  their  grand 
mamma,  "  and  I  am  going  to  call  it 

181 


182  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"GUNGA. 

"This  was  the  name  of  my  heroine;  she  was 
named  after  the  sacred  river  of  the  Hindoos,  the 
river  Ganges. 

"  She  had  a  sister  about  a  year  younger  than  her 
self  who  was  named  Tulasi.  Most  of  the  Hin 
doo  names  have  a  meaning,  and  the  Tulasi  is  a 
sacred  shrub  bearing  small  white  flowers  that  have 
a  delicate  perfume.  This  shrub  is  often  raised  and 
carefully  tended  in  boxes  that  are  placed  in  front 
of  Hindoo  dwellings. 

"  When  these  sisters  first  came  to  the  school,  they 
were  about  eight  and  nine  years  old.  They  had 
no  mother,  and  their  father,  who  was  quite  an  old 
man,  was  poor  and  of  low  caste.  He  lived  in  a 
mean  little  hut  just  out  of  the  town,  and  worked 
hard  for  his  scanty  support.  His  daughters  were 
married  to  idols,  which  means  that  their  father 
had  devoted  them  to  the  service  of  the  temple,  and 
when  they  were  older,  they  would  become  dan 
cing-girls.  These  dancing-girls  are  the  very  lowest 
class  of  women  in  India,  and  they  lead  very  wicked 
lives. 

"Although  these  children  were  so  poor,  they  had 
silver  bracelets  on  their  arms  and  legs ;  indeed,  it 


THE  STORY   OF  GUNOA.  183 

is  quite  a  puzzle  how  the  poorer  classes  in  India 
manage  to  get  and  keep  these  ornaments. 

"  There  was  nothing  remarkable  about  these  two 
girls,  except  that  they  were  mischievous  and  rather 
inattentive  to  their  lessons.  I  felt  very  much  in 
terested  in  them,  because  of  the  wretched  life  to 
which  they  were  doomed  as  dancing-girls,  and  I 
knew  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  pice  a  day  that 
each  received  for  coming  to  school,  their  father 
would  have  placed  them  in  the  temple  instead.  He 
was  a  very  superstitious  man,  and  very  much  afraid 
of  the  Brahmins,  and  I  almost  feared  that  every 
day  would  be  the  last  the  children  would  spend  in 
school. 

"Gunga  was  very  pretty,  with  a  great  deal  of 
spirit  in  her  bright  black  eyes;  she  learned  her 
lessons  with  very  little  trouble,  but  when  she 
rattled  through  so  glibly  with  the  Lord's  Prayer 
or  verses  of  Holy  Scripture,  I  scarcely  thought 
that  she  understood  what  she  said. 

"  Two  or  three  years  passed  on,  and  Tulasi,  who 
was  the  more  quiet  of  the  two,  became  sick.  The 
children  had  always  been  very  affectionate,  and 
Gunga's  protecting  care  toward  the  sister  so  little 
younger  than  herself  was  quite  touching.  I  missed 
the  girls  from  school  for  several  days,  and  fearing 


184  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

that  they  had  at  last  been  placed  in  the  temple,  I 
went  to  their  father's  hut  to  inquire  about  them. 

"  I  found  the  sick  child  lying  on  a  mat  in  the  open 
door,  while  Gunga  was  cooking  her  father's  rice. 

"'Oh,  Madam  Sahib/  said  Tulasi,  while  her 
eyes  brightened,  '  I  have  been  telling  Gunga  that 
you  are  so  good  you  would  come  to  see  me  if  you 
knew.' 

"  'And  what  is  the  matter  with  my  little  girl  ?' 
I  asked  as  I  sat  down  beside  her. 

" '  I  am  sick  all  over,'  she  replied, '  and  I  cough 
and  am  tired.' 

"  I  feared  at  once  that  the  child  had  consumption, 
and  when  your  grandfather  saw  her,  he  said  that 
this  was  the  case.  I  bathed  her  hot  brow  with 
some  rose-water,  and  then  cooled  her  hands  in  the 
same  way. 

"  Tulasi  seemed  very  grateful,  and  whispered  :  '  I 
love  you  much,  Madam  Sahib,  but  who  will  love 
poor  Gunga  when  I  am  gone?' 

"  '  Where  are  you  going,  Tulasi  ?'  I  asked. 

"'I  don't  know/  she  replied,  a  little  wildly;  'I 
should  like  to  go  to  the  good  Lord  Jesus  that  your 
Shasters  teach  about,  but  I  would  not  dare  to  be  a 
Christian,  it  would  make  my  father  and  the  Brah 
mins  so  angry.' 


THE  STORY  OF  GUXGA.  185 

"'I'd  dare,'  said  Gnnga,  resolutely;  'I  love  my 
father,  but  I  do  not  care  for  the  Brahmins,  and  be 
sides,  I  shouldn't  tell  any  one  that  I  was  a  Christian.' 

"  My  heart  yearned  over  the  little  stray  lamb 
who  seemed  to  be  groping  for  light,  and  I  tried 
to  make  her  understand  how  the  loving  Saviour 
called  the  little  ones  to  him  and  blessed  them 
while  he  was  here  on  earth. 

"  '  That  is  very  pretty,'  said  Tulasi ;  '  thank  you, 
Madam  Sahib.  Now  I  will  go  to  sleep ;'  and  she 
curled  herself  on  her  mat  with  a  contented  smile. 

"  Bhagoo,  the  father,  soon  came  in,  and  I  told 
him  that  the  Padre  Sahib,  who  had  studied  medi 
cine,  would  try  to  cure  his  child,  if  he  were  willing. 
He  seemed  very  glad  of  this;  indeed,  the  Hindoos 
appear  to  think  that  all  white  people  are  doctors, 
and  they  are  very  apt  to  beg  the  sahibs  for  medi 
cine,  no  matter  what  their  calling  may  be. 

"  Little  Tulasi  was  very  tenderly  cared  for,  and 
although  nothing  could  cure  her,  she  lived  for 
several  months  after  my  first  visit,  to  her.  Many 
an  hour  did  I  spend  beside  her  mat,  for  she  was 
too  weak  to  sit  up  much,  and  she  learned  to  love 
the  word  of  God  that  I  read  to  her  and  the 
Christian  prayers  that  were  offered  in  her  behalf. 

" '  I   have  got  him  '   she   said,  one  day,   very 


186  THE   WfLDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

brightly;  'I  feel  him  in  ray  heart!  The  Lord 
Jesus  knows  that  Tulasi  loves  him,  and  he  has 
come  down  now  to  stay,  with  me  all  the  time. 
Sing  for  me,  Gunga — sing  some  of  the  pretty  hymns 
that  we  learned  at  school.' 

"  Gunga's  voice  was  very  sweet,  and  she  would 
sing  with  the  tears  rolling  down  her  cheeks,  for 
she  could  not  bear  the  thought  that  her  only  sister 
would  soon  be  taken  away  from  her. 

"Just  before  Tulasi  died  she  called  her  father, 
who  seemed  very  sad  at  losing  her,  and  asked  him 
to  grant  her  one  last  request. 

"  He  promised  that  he  would  do  whatever  she 
wished. 

"  *  I  am  a  Christian,'  said  the  dying  child ;  '  I 
love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  me,  and 
I  want  to  be  buried  with  the  Christians  when  I 
die.  You  will  promise  me  this,  my  father?  You 
will  not  give  my  body  to  be  burned  ?' 

"  Bhagoo  solemnly  promised  his  daughter  that 
everything  should  be  done  as  she  desired,  and 
with  a  sweet  smile  of  thanks  Tulasi  sank  back  on 
her  pillow.  I  had  to  leave  her  then  for  the  night, 
and  before  morning  her  spirit  was  with  the  Saviour 
whom  she  loved. 

"  But.  what  a  sad  story  reached  me  of  the  poor 


THE  STORY  OF  OUNGA.  187 

child's  last  moments!  When  the  hand  of  death 
\v;is  plainly  on  her,  Bhagoo,  instead  of  keeping  his 
promise,  sent  for  a  Brahmin,  who  came  to  perform 
his  idolatrous  rites  over  her.  In  spite  of  Gunga's 
tears  and  entreaties,  Tulasi  was  not  even  allowed  to 
die  in  her  bed,  for  according  to  the  Hindoo  super 
stition,  a  dead  body  pollutes  everything  that  it 
touches;  she  was  dragged  to  the  floor,  and  breathed 
her  last  on  the  hard  earth.  This  was  afterward 
cleansed  and  purified  with  cow  manure,  which  the 
Hindoos  always  use  for  such  purposes,  and  the 
body  of  poor  little  Tulasi  was  taken  to  the  burn 
ing-ghat." 

"  What  a  wicked  man,"  said  Minnie,  indig 
nantly,  "  when  he  had  promised  his  daughter  that 
she  should  be  buried  like  a  Christian !" 

"It  was  the  one  earthly  thing  for  which  Tulasi 
seemed  to  care,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  but 
the  Hindoos  think  nothing  of  breaking  a  promise, 
and  the  Brahmin  wanted  his  funeral  fees.  So  the 
little  wasted  body  was  made  ready  for  burning, 
and  when  the  pile  had  been  lighted,  Gunga  was 
left  to  watch  and  keep  up  the  fire  and  throw  the 
ashes  into  the  river  when  the  fire  had  done  its 
work." 

"  Did  they  leave  poor  little  Gunga  all  alone  there 


THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

to  see  her  sister  burn  up  on  the  funeral  pile  ?"  asked 
Minnie,  shuddering. 

"  Yes,  my  dear  little  Minnie ;  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  wicked  are  cruel,  and  it  was  very  cruel  to 
poor  Gunga,  but  you  must  not  forget  that  it  was 
not  really  her  sister  that  was  burning,  only  the 
body  she  had  worn  ;  God  had  her  spirit,  the  part 
that  cannot  die,  in  safekeeping. 

"  I  will  let  Gunga  tell  the  rest  of  the  story.  I 
did  not  know  how  bad  it  was  until  she  rushed  to 
the  school  one  day  in  a  passion  of  tears,  and  told 
me  how  they  had  left  her  alone  late  in  the  after 
noon  by  the  side  of  the  little  river  where  the  burn 
ing  was  done. 

" '  It  was  dreadful/  said  the  poor  child,  '  to  sit 
there  and  look  at  the  fire  that  was  burning  up  my 
little  Tulasi,  and  it  was  so  still  around  that  I  felt 
afraid.  The  sun  was  going  down  behind  the  hills, 
and  a  great  black  cloud  seemed  to  hang  over 
everything.  I  felt  more  and  more  afraid ;  I 
thought  that  I  would  die,  too,  and  I  sat  and  wept 
there  by  the  water,  for  I  did  not  believe  that  if  I 
died  I  would  go  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  Tulasi  did  : 
I  was  not  good  like  her.  Then  I  trembled  all 
over,  for  Maha  Deo  came  and  talked  to  me.' " 

"  Was  that  the  wicked  Brahmin  ?"  asked  Harry. 


THE  STORY  OF  GUNOA.  189 

"  No,"  was  the  reply ;  "  Maha  Deo  means  al 
mighty  God,  and  poor  little  Gunga's  conscience 
began  to  accuse  her  when  she  thought  of  death, 
and  this  she  called  God  talking  to  her. 

"'Maha  Deo  told  me,'  said  she,  'Gunga,  you 
have  been  a  bad  girl ;  you  have  often  lied  and 
stolen,  and  you  have  not  minded  what  the  Padre 
and  Madam  Sahib  told  you,  and  you  were  not  al 
ways  kind  and  patient  with  Tulasi,  and  you  have 
such  a  bad  heart  that  you  must  die  for  ever  un 
less  you  get  a  new  one.  You  must  be  a  Christian 
or  you  will  never  see  Tulasi  again.  And  now, 
M;ulam  Sahib,'  said  she,  weeping  very  bitterly,  'I 
want  to  learn  how  to  live  like  a  Christian  ;  I  can 
not  be  a  heathen  any  longer.  What  can  I  do  to  try 
to  live  right  ?' 

•'The  first  thing,  my  dear  child/  I  replied,  'is 
to  give  your  heart  fully  and  entirely  to  Him  who 
so  lovingly  asks  for  it,  and  then  you  had  better 
come  to  us  and  let  this  be  your  home.  Here  you 
will  be  with  Christian  friends  who  will  care  for  all 
your  bodily  and  spiritual  wants  because  you  are 
one  of  the  little  ones  for  whom  Christ  died.' 

"But  Gunga  sadly  refused. 

" '  You  are  very  kind,  Madam  Sahib,'  she  re 
plied,  'and  I  would  love  to  come  and  live  with 


190  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

you.  But  I  cannot  leave  my  father ;  he  is  an  old 
man  now,  and  has  no  one  but  Gunga  to  cook  his 
rice.  I  will  not  tell  him  that  I  am  a  Christian, 
for  that,  I  believe,  would  kill  him,  but  I  must  stay 
with  him  as  long  as  he  lives.' 

"  I  told  Gunga  that  she  was  quite  right  not  to 
leave  her  old  father;  she  must  be  faithful  and  do 
her  duty,  however  hard,  and  leave  the  rest  with 
God. 

"She  lingered  as  though  she  had  something 
more  to  say;  then  looking  stealthily  around,  she 
whispered  hurriedly : 

" '  Do  not  tell  any  one,  Madam  Sahib ;  I  did  not, 
throw  the  ashes  into  the  river,  as  they  bade  me,  for 
then  the  Lord  Jesus  could  not  find  Tulasi  when 
he  comes  to  call  the  dead  people  to  life.  I  dug  a 
hole  in  the  sand  and  put  them  there.  Tulasi 
would  like  this  better/ 

"  My  heart  was  very  full  for  the  poor  Hindoo 
child  as  I  replied  :  'I  am  glad  that  you  remember 
the  Scripture  so  well,  Gunga,  but  be  assured,  my 
child,  that  the  Lord  will  find  his  own  again  even 
in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  for  he  has  told  us  that 
the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead.  Live  close  to  him 
always,  and  fear  not  them  that  can  kill  the  body, 
and  after  that  have  nothing  more  that  they  can  do, 


THE  STORY  OF  OUXOA.  191 

but  fear  Him  who  can  cast  both  soul  and  body  into 
hell.'" 

"What  became  of  poor  little  Gunga,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Minnie,  anxiously;  "did  her 
father  kill  her?" 

"  No,"  was  the  reply ;  "  Bhagoo  died  in  a  few 
mouths  after  Tulasi's  death,  and  then  Gunga  came 
to  live  at  our  little  mission  house.  She  soon  be 
came  useful  in  the  school  as  a  teacher,  and  after 
ward  she  was  one  of  our  most  faithful  Bible- 
women,  reading  the  word  of  God  for  hours  at  a 
time  to  different  groups  of  her  countrywomen. 
She  died  of  cholera  a  few  years  after  I  left  India, 
but  it  was  a  most  triumphant  Christian  death." 

"  What  a  lovely  story  that  is !"  said  Minnie,  ad 
miringly. 

"Indeed,  ma'am,  it's  beautiful,"  said  Sarah,  with 
tears  in  her  eyes. 

"  1  like  that  Gunga,"  observed  Harry,  approv 
ingly  ;  "  she  was  a  girl  with  some  sense  in  her." 

"  We  can  all  be  like  her  in  one  way,  Harry," 
replied  his  grandmamma,  "and  I  think  you  know 
what  it  is." 

But  Harry  only  hung  his  head,  and  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford  continued:  "The  voice  of  almighty  God 
that  the  poor  desolate  child  heard  by  the  river- 


192  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

bank  is  too  often  stilled  in  our  hearts ;  we  grieve 
the  Holy  Spirit  by  refusing  to  listen  to  his  teach 
ings,  putting  them  aside,  perhaps,  for  a  more  con 
venient  season.  If  Gunga  had  tried  to  comfort 
herself,  after  her  sister's  death,  by  thinking  no 
more  about  it,  and  had  refused  to  listen  to  Maha 
Deo,  perhaps  he  would  never  have  spoken  to  her 
again,  and  she  would  have  lived  and  died  a 
heathen." 

The  children  looked  very  serious  at  this,  and 
Sarah  began  to  think  that  these  stories  about  India 
had  more  in  them  than  she  expected. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

WHITE  JESSAMINE. 

REMEMBER  another  little  girl  in  our 
school  at  Bombay,"  said  grandmamma, 
"  whose  story  is  quite  different  from  Gun- 
ga's ;  her  name  was  Shewanti,  or  White 
Jessamine." 

"  Oh,"  said  Minnie,  "  isn't  that  lovely  ?  I  wish 
I  had  been  named  White  Jessamine !" 

"  I  don't,"  replied  Harry ;  "  it  would  have  been 
a  great  bother  to  say  all  that,  instead  of  Minnie." 

"It  is  too  late  to  talk  about  that  now,"  said 
Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  I  want  you  to  listen  to  the 
story  of 

"WHITE  JESSAMINE. 
"A  little  creature  about  six  years  old  was 
brought  to  the  school  one  day  by  her  mother.  She 
was  extremely  pretty  and  winning,  with  such  a 
bright,  mischievous  face  that  she  made  every  one 
smile  who  looked  at  her.  Her  clothing  was  very 

light  indeed,  as  it  consisted  entirely  of  three  brace- 
is  193 


194  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

lets  on  each  arm,  two  ankle-bands  and  two  or 
three  toe-rings. 

"  Her  small  ladyship  was  married,  as  the  toe- 
rings  and  the  daub  of  red  paint  on  her  forehead 
proclaimed,  but  she  was  still  in  her  mother's  care, 
while  her  boy-husband  was  going  to  school  from 
his  father's  house. 

"  Shewanti's  mother  wished  us  to  take  the  child 
as  a  present ;  she  did  not  mind  her  being  made  a 
Christian,  she  said,  for  she  had  not  much  caste  to 
lose,  and  she  found  it  very  hard  to  live.  We  took 
the  little  flower  thus  offered  us  as  God's  gift,  to  be 
trained  for  his  service,  but  we  told  the  mother, 
very  much  to  her  delight,  that  she  should  not  be 
entirely  separated  from  her  child,  but  that  she 
might  come  to  the  mission  house  and  visit  her. 

"The  first  thing  we  did  with  White  Jessamine 
was  to  put  some  clothes  on  her,  and  she  was  speedily 
attired  in  a  little  tunic  and  sacque  very  much  like 
these." 

The  children  and  Sarah  examined  the  odd-look 
ing  little  garments  of  red  cotton  with  great  in 
terest,  and  Minnie  wished  that  the  little  Hindoo 
girl  herself  were  in  the  clothes  now. 

"She  is  quite  a  middle-aged  woman  by  this 
time,"  replied  her  grandmamma,  "and  has  several 


WHITE  JESSAMINE.  195 

children  of  her  own,  but  then  she  was  one  of  the 
dearest  little  things  I  ever  saw.  She  was  round 
and  dimpled  and  a  perfect  sunbeam  for  smiling; 
"cute'  is  the  only  expression  that  just  describes 
her. 

"  White  Jessamine  soon  proved  to  be  a  very 
lively  young  lady  indeed,  and  committed  endless 
pranks  that  were  never  very  severely  punished. 
A  little  shy  at  first,  this  soon  wore  off,  and  the 
merry  mischief  of  her  nature  asserted  itself." 

"What  did  she  do,  grandmamma?"  asked 
Harry ;  "  she  must  have  been  a  jolly  little  thing 
for  a  Hindoo." 

"  I  can  remember  one  of  her  freaks  distinctly," 
said  Mrs.  Wildford,  smiling  at  the  recollection ; 
"the  funny  little  figure  seems  to  rise  before  me 
now.  She  became  very  fond  of  the  Padre  Sahib, 
would  hang  about  him  and  get  more  play  out  of 
him  than  any  one  else  could  accomplish,  and  one 
day  she  concluded  to  be  the  Padre  Sahib  herself. 
She  arrayed  herself  in  a  complete  suit  of  your 
grandfather's  clothes,  which  in  India  were  always 
of  white  linen,  put  on  a  straw  hat  of  his,  which 
came  quite  over  her  roguish  little  face,  and  with 
her  morsels  of  feet  fairly  lost  in  a  pair  of  his  slip 
pers,  she  stood  in  the  school-room  door  and  re- 


196  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

ceived  with  the  utmost  gravity  the  bursts  of  laughter 
which  greeted  her  appearance. 

"She  was  such  a  comical  figure  that  the  Padre 
Sahib  himself  laughed,  and  then  Shewanti  fairly 
danced  for  joy." 

"  I  am  so  glad  nobody  scolded  her/'  said  Minnie. 

"It  was  not  easy  to  scold  White  Jessamine," 
was  the  reply,  "she  was  so  loving  and  lovable. 
I  think  a  very  gentle  reproof  was  administered 
on  the  impropriety  of  little  girls  dressing  them 
selves  in  gentlemen's  clothes  and  tumbling  the 
Padre  Sahib's  linen,  and  she  took  it  enough  to 
heart  to  try  a  different  prank  next  time. 

"  Shewanti  learned  with  great  quickness,  and 
would  laugh  one  moment  and  cry  the  next  when 
anything  pleased  or  saddened  her  in  what  she  was 
studying.  Her  mother  seemed  very  happy  in  the 
progress  she  made,  and  she  was  quite  delighted 
when  she  saw  Shewanti  dressed  '  almost  like 
Madam  Sahib.'  The  mother  loved  to  come  to  the 
Christian  services,  but  she  did  not  live  more  than 
a  year  or  two  after  we  first  saw  her.  She  had  be 
come  a  humble  follower  of  Christ,  and  she  was  the 
first  native  to  whom  we  had  the  comfort  of  giving 
Christian  burial. 

"  White  Jessamine  mourned  for  her  mother  with 


WHITE  JESSAMINE.  197 

a  child's  passionate  grief,  but  soon  the  kindness 
that  surrounded  her  brought  back  her  smiles,  and 
of  her  own  accord  she  bestowed  on  me  the  title  of 
'  .Mamma  Sahib.'  I  loved  the  child  very  dearly, 
and  none  the  less  so,  I  believe,  that  she  seemed  so 
devoted  to  my  little  Ada.  She  would  play  with 
her  for  hours  together,  and  was  always  ready  to 
give  up  her  own  pleasure  to  amuse  the  child." 

"  Mamma  had  some  funny  playmates,  hadn't 
she,  grandmamma?"  said  Minnie. 

"  To  think  of  all  the  queer  black  people  around 
her!"  said  Sarah,  in  great  disgust;  "didn't  they 
frighten  the  baby,  ma'am  ?" 

"  Not  in  the  least,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  be 
cause  she  was  always  used  to  .them.  Had  they 
been  suddenly  brought  before  her,  it  would  have 
been  a  different  thing.  Yes,  Minnie,  your  mamma 
did  have  what  would  seem  to  you  very  funny 
playfellows,  but  I  think  she  was  quite  as  happy 
with  them  as  you  are  with  yours.  Little  She- 
wanti's  pranks  and  roguish,  laughing  face  were 
very  attractive  to  a  baby,  and  Lilly,  her  African 
nurse,  was  her  especial  delight. 

"  It  was  very  sweet  to  us  to  watch  the  workings 
of  White  Jessamine's  mind  as  she  gradually  grew 
to  be  a  child  of  God ;  all  the  earnestness  of  her 


198  THE    WILDFORDS  IN   INDIA. 

nature  was  spent  on  heavenly  things,  and  often 
have  I  seen  her  with  the  tears  rolling  down  her 
cheeks  as  she  studied  the  sacred  narratives  of  the 
sufferings  of  our  Lord. 

"Once,  when  this  had  been  the  subject  of  her 
lesson,  the  children  were  playing  blindman's  buff, 
and  it  came  to  Shewanti's  turn  to  be  blinded. 
They  were  about  tying  the  handkerchief  over  her 
eyes,  when  she  broke  away  from  them,  exclaiming : 

"  '  No !     No  !     I  cannot !' 

" '  But  why  ?'  they  asked ;  '  why  will  you  be  so 
disobliging  and  spoil  our  play  ?' 

"  '  Because,'  sobbed  the  child,  l  they  blinded  our 
dear  Lord,  and  I  know  it  isn't  right.' 

"The  children  were  quite  troubled  at  this,  and 
brought  the  matter  to  me. 

"  I  kissed  my  little  White  Jessamine,  and  told 
her  that,  while  all  tender  love  and  reverence  were 
due  to  the  sufferings  of  Christ  our  Saviour,  this 
was  carrying  the  feeling  farther  than  was  reason 
able,  and  she  could  do  her  part  in  blindman's  buff 
without  fear  of  committing  sin  in  this  respect. 

"The  April  face  brightened  immediately,  and 
no  lighter  foot  or  heart  than  Shewanti's  joined  in 
the  play  that  afternoon. 

"  When  this  little  convert  first  began  to  under- 


WHITE  J  Ms  A  MINE.  199 

stand  the  sinful  nature  of  lying  and  deception,  of 
which  the  Hindoos  think  so  little,  she  could  not 
endure  the  least  deviation  from  truth,  either  in 
herself  or  others.  She  got  up  a  little  society 
among  the  children,  which  she  called  'the  truth- 
tellers/  and  all  who  told  a  falsehood  or  who  did 
not  strictly  speak  the  truth  were  marked  in  a  little 
book  that  she  kept  for  that  purpose." 

"  I  hope  she  wasn't  a  telltale?"  said  Harry,  with 
great  contempt. 

"No,"  replied  his  grandmamma;  "  White  Jessa 
mine's  nature  was  too  noble  for  that.  Her  own 
name  was  as  likely  to  be  marked  in  this  little 
record  as  any  other,  and  it  was  never  seen  by  the 
teachers.  It  was  quite  a  check  upon  the  children, 
who  were  allowed  to  see  it  once  a  week,  but  I  did 
not  know  of  it  until  some  years  afterward. 

"Of  course  all  the  children  in  our  school  did 
not  become  Christians,  and  many  of  those  who 
might  have  done  so  in  time  were  taken  away  by 
their  parents  on  the  first  symptoms  of  such  a  dis 
grace,  as  they  called  it.  Some  of  those  even  to 
whom  we  gave  Christian  instruction  would  revile 
and  oppose  the  truth  among  themselves,  while 
those  who  loved  sacred  things  formed  a  little  band 
and  stole  away  after  night,  while  the  others  were 


200  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

sleeping,  for  prayer  and  praise.  White  Jessamine 
was  the  prime  mover  in  this;  she  was  one  of  those 
bright,  active  spirits  who  seem  destined  to  be  at 
the  head  of  everything,  whether  for  mischief  or  for 
good. 

"  It  was  some  little  time  before  I  discovered  this 
habit  of  the  children's ;  when  I  did,  I  told  them 
that,  although  their  object  was  a  good  one,  they 
were  really  breaking  the  rules  by  getting  up  after 
they  had  been  sent  to  bed,  and  that  this  was  a  bad 
example  to  others.  I  gave  them  a  particular  hour 
for  their  little  meeting,  and  they  were  very  obedient 
in  observing  it. 

"  These  children,  you  must  remember,  were  older 
in  their  characters  and  thoughts  than  children  of 
the  same  age  here,  and  to  them  the  glad  tiding? 
of  the  gospel  were  as  though  some  strange  people 
should  bring  you  accounts  of  a  wonderfully  beau 
tiful  and  glorious  country  that  you  had  never  heard 
of  before,  but  to  which  you  might  go  and  live  there 
for  ever  amid  its  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  de 
licious  flowers  and  fruits,  if  you  followed  their  di 
rections  about  getting  there. 

"Some  other  day  I  will  tell  you  of  Shewanti's 
companions,  and  of  the  young  Brahmin  whom  she 
afterward  married.  The  boy  to  whom  she  was 


WHITE  JESSAMINE.  201 

married  when  she  came  to  school  refused  to  have 
her  for  his  wife  because  she  had  become  a  Chris 
tian,  but  White  Jessamine  laughed,  and  said  that 
she  was  very  glad  of  it,  because  she  did  not  wish 
to  be  married  at  all." 

"  That  is  so  nice,"  said  Minnie,  when  her  grand 
mamma  had  finished;  "it  seems  to  me  almost  the 
nicest  thing  you  have  told  us  yet,  grandmamma." 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  find  that  you  do  not  get  tired 
of  India,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford.  "And  how  is  it 
with  you,  Harry?" 

"  Why,  grandmamma,"  replied  the  boy,  frankly, 
"I  did  not  think  I  would  like  it  half  so  much 
when  you  said  that  I  need  not  expect  any  elephants 
and  things,  and  I  am  ever  so  much  obliged  to  you 
for  letting  me  come  in  here." 

"And  I'm  sure  I  am,  ma'am,"  said  Sarah,  gather 
ing  up  her  work ;  "  a  lady  that  can  talk  as  much  as 
you  can  ain't  to  be  found  in  every  family." 

Mrs.  Wildford  laughed  a  little  over  Sarah's  com 
pliment  when  she  had  left  the  room,  but,  as  it 
was  well  meant,  she  took  it  as  it  was  intended. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ELEPHANT  A.  AND  SALSETTE. 

HE  next  day,  when  the  children  went  into 
their   grandmother's    room  for  an  Indian 
talk,  as  they  called  it,  they  found  her  very 
busy  with  some  maps  and  a  large  marble- 
covered  book  that  seemed  to  be  full  of  writing. 

"  I  have  been  looking  over  my  journal,"  said 
Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  wondering  if  I  could  not  give 
you  a  better  idea  of  Bombay  and  the  surrounding 
country  than  I  have  yet  done.  It  is  so  entirely 
different  from  anything  here  that  I  should  like,  if 
possible,  to  make  you  see  it  with  my  eyes.  Come 
here,  Harry,  and  read  this  little  account  from  the 
letter  of  another  traveler  in  India." 

Harry  read  the  following  description  very  nicely : 
"The  various  tribes  of  the  countries  through 
which  I  have  passed  interested  me  extremely. 
Their  language,  the  circumstances  of  their  habita 
tion,  dress  and  armor,  their  pastoral  and  agricul 
tural  way  of  life,  their  women  grinding  at  the  mill, 

202 


ELEPHANTA   AND  SALSETTE  203 

their  cakes  baked  on  the  coals,  their  corn  trodden 
out  by  oxen,  their  maidens  passing  to  the  well, 
their  travelers  lodging  in  the  streets,  their  tents, 
their  camels,  their  shields,  spears  and  coats  of  mail, 
their  Mussulmans  with  a  religion  closely  copied 
from  that  of  Moses,  their  Hindoo  tribes  worshiping 
the  same  abominations  with  the  same  rites  as  the 
ancient  Canaanites,  their  false  prophets  swarming 
in  every  city  and  foretelling  good  or  evil  as  it  suits 
the  political  views  of  their  employers,  their  judges 
sitting  in  the  gate,  and  their  wild  Bheels  and 
Thoolies  dwelling,  like  the  ancient  Amorites,  in 
holes  and  clefts  of  the  rocks,  and  coming  down 
with  sword  and  bow  to  watch  the  motions  or  at 
tack  the  baggage  of  the  traveler, — transported  me 
back  three  thousand  years,  and  I  felt  myself  a  con 
temporary  of  Joshua  or  Samuel." 

"All  this,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "is  so  true  that 
I  had  almost  the  same  feeling  when  I  went  to 
India.  The  more  I  traveled  and  saw  the  customs 
of  the  people,  the  more  it  seemed  as  though  I  had 
indeed  gone  back  three  thousand  years,  instead  of 
living  in  the  nineteenth  century.  But  before  I  tell 
you  any  more  of  these  travels,  which,  as  I  said  at 
first,  were  not  very  extensive,  after  all,  I  am  going 
to  talk  of  some  remarkable  places  near  Bombay. 


204  THE   WiLDFORDS  Zft   INDIA. 

Here  is  a  map  of  the  island  and  the  places  all 
around  it,  and  I  am  going  to  read  you  what  another 
traveler  said  of  it  many  years  before  I  went  there  : 

"'Nothing  can  he  more  delightful  than  the  rides 
and  drives  in  this  island.  They  extend  twenty-one 
miles,  and  communicate  with  the  neighboring  isl 
and  of  Salsette  by  means  of  a  causeway.  The 
prospect  is  as  grand  and  as  beautiful  as  can  be 
imagined  ;  the  mighty  range  of  the  Ghauts  towering 
in  the  clouds  and  extending  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  the  bold  views  on  the  continent,  the  diversi 
fied  objects  on  the  island,  old  ruinous  convents  and 
monasteries  erected  by  its  former  conquerors,  the 
Portuguese,  the  noble  country-houses  of  the  Euro 
peans,  Hindoo  pagodas,  Mohammedan  mosques,  the 
remains  of  Mahratta  forts  and  buildings, — these, 
with  the  rural  appearance  of  Hindoo  villages,  where 
every  patch  of  ground  is  richly  cultivated  or  orna 
mented  and  interspersed  with  groves  of  date  and 
cocoanut  trees,  afford  a  prospect  of  luxuriance 
and  beauty  to  be  met  with  nowhere  but  in  the 
Concan. 

" '  As  we  turn  our  eyes  toward  the  sea,  we  are  pre 
sented  with  a  fine  hard  beach  running  on  to  the 
high  and  romantic  spot  called  Malabar  point,  which 
promontory  is  studded  with  neat  villas,  while  the 


ELEPHANT  A  AND  SALSETTE.  205 

city  and  fort  are  seen  in  the  background,  with  the 
ships  securely  at  anchor  in  the  harbor. 

"'Nor  must  we  forget  the  isthmus  called  Colaba 
(probably  Cal-ab,  or  black  water)  running  for 
about  two  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  Bombay, 
from  which  it  is  separated  at  high  water.  On  this 
small  island,  which  scarcely  exceeds  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  in  breadth,  are  several  good  houses  and  a 
range  of  barracks.  At  its  farthest  or  western  end 
stands  a  noble  signal  and  lighthouse,  from  the  top 
of  which  is  a  very  fine  view  of  the  island  and  adja 
cent  country.'" 

"  Did  you  think  Bombay  a  beautiful  place,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Harry. 

"  I  did,  indeed,"  was  the  reply.  "  It  looked  to 
me  almost  like  a  second  Eden.  Of  that  interesting 
country  it  may  truly  be  said,  as  in  the  missionary 

hymn, 

'  Where  every  prospect  pleases, 
And  only  man  is  vile.' 

I  am  going  to  tell  you  to-day,"  continued  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "of  the  visit  we  made  to  the  Cave  of 
Elephanta." 

"Do  elephants  really  live  in  caves?"  asked  Min 
nie.  "  I  thought  they  were  so  large  that  they  had 
to  stay  in  groves  or  on  the  banks  of  rivers." 


206  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  I  never  heard  of  any  but  stone  elephants  that 
were  found  in  eaves/'  replied  her  grandmamma. 
"  Elephanta,  or  Shapooree,  is  the  name  of  a  small 
island  about  two  hours'  sail  from  Bombay.  A 
great  many  travelers  and  parties  of  pleasure  go 
there  to  spend  the  day.  They  get  into  a  bundur 
or  wharf-boat,  of  which  I  told  you  in  my  journey 
to  Allabag,  and  sail  or  row  across  the  beautiful 
harbor  to  the  curiously-shaped  island,  which  looks 
like  a  double-headed  hill  rising  out  of  the  sea. 
When  we  reached  the  shore,  there  was  a  long  up 
hill  walk  to  be  taken  through  a  narrow  valley  that 
separates  the  mountains,  and  I  became  very  tired 
before  we  got  to  the  open  space  that  surrounds  the 
rock-hewn  temple,  for  Elephanta  is  really  a  cave- 
temple  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock  no  one  knows 
how  many  thousands  of  years  ago." 

"  Oh,"  said  Harry,  "  that  is  like  the  Catacombs 
of  Rome,  grandmamma,  where  the  Christians  used 
to  worship  for  fear  of  the  wicked  emperors." 

"  Not  much  like  the  Catacombs,  Harry,"  replied 
his  grandmamma,  sadly.  "  These  cave-temples  of 
India  (for  there  are  a  great  many  of  them  in  various 
places)  are  not  underground,  but  cut  in  the  moun 
tains,  and  a  great  deal  of  time  has  been  spent  in 
carving  the  stone  pillars  "nd  the  figures  of  their 


ELEPHANT  A  AND  SALSETTE.  207 

gods  that  are  sculptured  on  the  walls.  They  have 
not  been  used  as  burial-places,  like  the  Catacombs — 
for  the  Hindoos,  you  know,  burn  their  dead — and 
instead  of  telling  us,  like  these  humbler  temples, 
of  the  beautiful  faith  of  the  early  Christians,  they 
are  full  of  the  symbols  of  idolatry,  with  all  its 
abominations. 

"The  walk,  which  seemed  to  me  so  long  because 
we  were  ascending  the  hill,  is  only  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  landing,  and  it  was 
really  very  pretty,  being  part  of  the  way  through 
woods,  and  sometimes  on  the  very  edge  of  a  preci 
pice.  At  the  entrance  of  the  temple  are  immense 
stone  pillars,  on  which  the  whole  mountain  above 
seems  to  rest.  Wild  vines  and  shrubs  grow  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  and  hang  down,  so  that  the 
foliage  twines  over  the  front  of  the  temple.  This 
is  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long,  and  the 
stone  columns  that  support  it  are  arranged  so  that 
there  are  three  openings,  through  which  we  could 
look  only  into  darkness." 

"  Then  you  did  not  see  the  inside  at  all ! "  said 
Minnie,  in  a  disappointed  tone.  "  I  wanted  so 
much  to  know  about  the  inside." 

"  Do  not  be  too  fast,  little  granddaughter.  There 
are  such  thing?  as  torches  that  are  intended  espe- 


208  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

cially  for  caves,  and  with  this  help  you  may  be 
sure  that  we  did  not  leave  Elephanta  without  ex 
ploring  the  inside.  We  found  the  roof  quite  flat, 
and  the  heavy  pillars  were  in  rows  all  the  way 
back  to  the  end  of  the  cave.  On  the  sides  of  the 
walls  were  immense  figures  of  various  Hindoo 
gods — Gunputti  with  his  elephant  head ;  a  god 
with  four  faces  riding  on  a  bird,  and  Siva,  the 
head  god  of  India,  under  different  forms.  At  the 
very  end  of  the  cave,  in  a  large  recess,  there  is  a 
figure  of  their  triad  god,  much  larger  than  life,  with 
three  heads,  and  in  another  place  is  Siva,  who  wears 
a  necklace  of  human  skulls,  and  has  the  dreadful 
cobra  or  hooded  snake  of  India  close  beside  him." 

"A  real  snake?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  No,  my  child ;  this  one  is  of  stone,  but  real 
snakes  are  often  found  in  these  caves,  particularly 
in  the  rainy  season.  We  did  not  see  any,  however, 
and  I  do  not  think  that  I  once  thought  of  them  at 
Elephanta.  This  wonderful  temple,  although  of 
stone,  is  really  in  a  state  of  decay ;  the  heavy  rains 
injure  it  every  year,  because,  as  there  is  no  way  of 
draining  off  the  water,  it  lies  there  for  a  long  time. 
Many  of  the  stone  pillars  have  been  worn  away 
from  the  ground,  so  that  only  the  tops  are  left 
hanging  from  the  roof  in  a  very  curious  fashion. 


ELEPHANTA  AND  SALSETTE.  209 

On  the  island  of  Elephanta,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  landing,  there  is  a  huge  stone  ele 
phant  with  an  animal  on  its  back  that  is  supposed 
to  have  been  intended  for  a  tiger.  The  name  of 
the  island  is  taken  from  this  stone  image." 

"  Did  you  go  to  any  of  these  other  places,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Harry  as  he  studied  the  map. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  we  also  visited  Salsette, 
which,  as  you  will  see,  is  another  island  near  Bom 
bay,  and  it  is  a  very  beautiful  one.'' 

"More  caves,  too,  grandmamma?  It  says  here, 
'  Caves  of  Thanheri.'  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  Salsette  is  full 
of  interest,  and  as  we  wished  to  acquaint  ourselves 
with  the  condition  of  the  people  on  the  island,  we 
spent  three  or  four  days  there.  There  is  a  narrow 
causeway  from  Bombay  to  Salsette,  and  over  this 
we  drove  in  a  bullock  cart,  instead  of  going  by 
water." 

"  What  is  a  bullock  cart?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  It  is  a  queer-looking  vehicle  on  two  wheels, 
drawn  by  bullocks  or  oxen,  that  in  India  takes 
the  place  of  our  hacks,  or  public  carriages.  Here 
is  a  picture  of  one  with  the  godswallah,  or  driver." 

The  children  thought  it  funny  enough,  and 
Sarah  pronounced  it  "  heathenish  looking." 

14 


210  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"I  am  sorry  to  say,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford, 
"  that  I  startled  our  godswallah  very  much  during 
this  journey  by  telling  him  to  go  as  fast  as  he 
could  because  I  was  possessed  with  a  devil.  I  meant 
to  say  that  I  was  suffering  with  hunger,  and  wished 
him  to  drive  quickly  to  the  nearest  town,  but  I 
did  not  understand  the  language  very  well  then, 
and  I  frequently  made  mistakes.  Your  grand 
father  laughed  heartily,  but  the  man  seemed  to 
think  me  rather  dangerous,  and  the  poor  bullocks 
were  indeed  driven  with  a  vengeance. 

"  Our  journey  through  Salsette  was  really  lovely  ; 
part  of  the  time  we  were  in  a  valley,  and  the  hills 
on  each  side  of  us  were  covered  with  beautiful 
shrubs,  while  we  passed  whole  groves  of  mango 
and  palm  trees.  But  there  were  very  few  people 
to  be  seen ;  at  one  of  the  villages,  named  Gora- 
bunder,  which  was  only  a  group  of  very  poor- 
looking  huts,  we  found  that  the  inhabitants  got 
their  living  by  burning  charcoal.  They  were  a 
caste  by  themselves  with  whom  other  Hindoos 
would  have  nothing  to  do,  except  to  buy  their 
charcoal  in  a  very  curious  way.  The  Gorabunder 
people  took  it  in  loads  to  some  particular  spot  and 
left  it  there;  the  Hindoos  carried  it  away,  and  left 
in  payment  tools  of  different  kinds,  rice  and 


ELEPHANT  A  AND  SALSETTE.  211 

clothes,  which  the  charcoal-burners  could  not  get 
for  themselves.  These  poor  people  were  very  wild 
and  ignorant,  and  the  Hindoos  treated  them  with 
the  utmost  contempt. 

"At  a  place  called  Toolsey  we  came  upon  a  large 
party  of  friends  who  had  planned  this  pleasant 
surprise  for  us.  The  place  was  very  pretty,  full 
of  fine  trees  and  surrounded  by  high  mountains. 
Our  friends  had  pitched  their  tents  in  one  of  the 
groves,  for  they  were  out  on  a  picnic,  and  the 
white  and  colored  dresses  of  the  Mohammedan, 
Hindoo  and  Parsee  servants,  the  five  Arab  horses 
tied  under  the  trees,  the  crowd  of  bullock  carts 
and  native  drivers,  fires  for  cooking  and  the  tangled 
beauty  of  the  jungle,  formed  a  picture  that  could 
be  found  nowhere  else." 

"  Grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  "  what  is  a  jungle  ? 
I  thought  it  was  a  dreadful  place  where  only  tigers 
lived." 

"  Tigers  do  have  their  lairs  in  jungles,  as  a  gen 
eral  thing,"  was  the  reply,  "but  every  jungle  has 
not  tigers  in  it.  This  is  the  common  name  in 
India  for  a  thicket  of  any  kind.  Tigers  were  said 
to  be  plentiful  on  the  island  of  Salsette,  but  we 
probably  frightened  them  away  from  our  immediate 
neighborhood,  as  we  did  no*  even  have  a  distant 


212  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

glimpse  of  one.  There  are  wildcats  and  rattle 
snakes  in  some  parts  of  America,  yet  we  should 
be  very  much  surprised  to  have  foreigners  ask  us 
how  we  could  live  in  such  a  dreadful  country, 
where  there  were  wildcats  and  rattlesnakes. 

"  We  found  a  morning  ride  through  the  woods  at 
Salsette  perfectly  delicious.  The  air  was  cool  and 
fresh  from  a  recent  shower,  and  the  numerous 
singing  birds  made  a  concert  for  us  all  the  way. 
The  trees,  too,  seemed  to  be  full  of  monkeys,  who 
kept  up  an  incessant  chatter  and  amused  us  with 
their  pranks.  If  we  had  been  able  to  feel  that  it 
was  right  for  us  to  do  nothing  but.  to  seek  our  own 
happiness,  I  think  we  would  have  pitched  our  tents 
for  life  at  Salsette. 

'  But  only  he  who  bears  the  cross 
Can  hope  to  wear  the  glorious  crown,' 

and  the  motto  of  the  true  Christian  is  ever  'On 
ward.' 

"  The  caves  of  Thanheri  were  to  be  visited  before 
we  left  the  island,  and  some  of  our  friends  went 
with  us  to  see  these  wonderful  temples.  Our  road 
lay  through  a  very  dense  jungle,  from  which  I  al 
most  expected  to  see  a  tiger  spring  upon  us,  but 
no  such  catastrophe  happened. 


ELEPHANT A   A\I>   N.  1  L8ETTE.  213 

"Thanheri  is  quite  different  from  Elephanta. 
There  are  a  number  of  caves  of  various  sizes  on 
)oth  sides  of  a  high,  rocky  hill,  but  these  temples 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Hindoo  religion.  The 
first  inhabitants  of  India  were  Buddhists,  or  wor 
shipers  of  Buddha,  and  many  of  the  caves  seem  to 
have  been  used  by  monks  or  hermits  who  devoted 
themselves  to  the  service  of  this  god.  The  largest 
cave  is  a  temple  in  the  form  of  a  Christian  church, 
but  here,  alas!  the  resemblance  ends,  for  an  im 
mense  statue  of  the  false  god  Buddha  stands  at  each 
side  of  the  entrance.  The  temple  is  very  beau 
tiful  ;  it  has  rows  of  finely-carved  pillars  with 
lions  at  the  top,  and  the  walls  are  ornamented  with 
a  row  of  sculptured  figures." 

"But  who  did  all  this,  grandmamma?"  asked 
Harry. 

"  That  is  just  what  we  do  not  know,"  was  the 
reply,  "  because  it  seems  impossible  to  discover  the 
age  of  these  temples.  There  is  an  inscription  on 
one  of  the  stone  pillars,  but.  it  is  written  in  a  lan 
guage  that  no  on*  can  understand ;  we  only  know 
that  it  does  not  honor  the  true  God.  The  roof  of 
this  cave  is  not  flat,  like  that  of  Elephanta,  but 
arched,  and  ornamented  in  ribs  with  the  close, 
heavy  wood  of  the  teak  tree.  There  is  one  large 


214  THE   WILD  FORDS  IN  INDIA. 

room  fifty  feet  long  and  about  twenty  wide,  and 
on  three  sides  of  this  room  there  is  a  row  of  eight- 
sided  pillars.  At  the  extreme  end  there  is  a  half 
circle,  and  in  this  a  dome  carved  out  of  the  rock. 
This  dome  is  a  symbol  of  the  Buddhist  faith,  and 
earlier  travelers  say  that  there  used  to  be  on  the 
top  a  large  gilt  umbrella." 

"  What  a  funny  thing  for  a  temple  !"  said  Harry ; 
"  it  never  rained  in  there,  did  it?" 

"  The  folly  of  idolatry,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  is 
only  equaled  by  its  wickedness.  There  is  no  sense 
in  the  gilt  umbrella,  nor  in  the  many-headed  and 
many-handed  gods  that  are  so  often  found  in  these 
heathen  temples. 

"  It  was  pleasant  to  leave  such  a  place  and  see 
how  much  more  beautiful  God  had  made  the  world 
outside,  and  to  feel  that  he  had  raised  a  temple  to 
his  own  honor  in  the  very  hills  and  woods  and 
valleys  around  us  that  would  outlast  the  most  per 
fect  work  of  man.  The  view  on  top  of  the  hill 
from  which  the  cave-temples  arc  cut  is  particularly 
beautiful,  and  I  wished  that  I  could  have  brought 
away  with  me  a  good  picture  of  it. 

"  We  found  the  people  of  Salsette  in  a  very  sad 
condition ;  few  of  them  could  read,  and  when  we 
tried  to  tell  them  of  the  one  eternal  God  and 


ELEPHANT  A  AND  SALSETTE,  215 

Saviour,  their  minds  could  not  seem  to  comprehend 
it.  We  might  not  linger,  for  we  were  needed  at 
Bombay,  and  we  left  the  island  with  feelings  of 
sorrow  that  the  dwellers  in  that  lovely  spot  seemed 
so  little  better  than  the  beasts  that  perish." 

"  Well,"  said  Minnie,  with  a  sigh,  "  I  wish  that 
I  could  remember  it  all,  grandmamma,  but  I  don't 
believe  I  know  now  which  is  Elephanta  and  which 
is — that  other  place." 

"Girls  are  smart!"  observed  Harry,  contempt- 
ously  ;  "  when  you  want  to  think  of  them,  you  can 
recollect  that  there  are  elephants  in  the  cave  of 
Elephanta,  and  tigers  at  '  the  other  place.'  " 

Minnie  was  quite  bewildered  :  "  Is  that  right, 
grandmamma?  I  didn't  remember  you  saying  so." 

"No,  my  dear,  it  is  not  right,  and  neither  is 
somebody  else  right.  Do  not  forget,  Harry,  that 
you  are  two  years  older  than  your  sister,  and  if 
you  are  so  much  more  clever,  you  should  help  her, 
instead  of  leading  her  astray." 

Harry  was  penitent  in  a  moment. 

"Come,  Minnie,"  said  he,  affectionately — "or 
White  Jessamine,  if  you  like  that  better — let's 
make  it  up.  I  won't  tell  you  any  more  stories, 
and  perhaps  I  really  can  help  you  about  the  caves 
when  we  come  to  talk  them  over." 


216  THE    WILDFO^DS  IN  INDIA. 

"  Grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  when  her  brothei 
had  gone  to  his  lessons,  "  I  do  love  Harry  very 
much  ;  if  he  does  tease  me,  he  is  always  so  good  after 
he  has  been  bad." 

"  That,"  replied  her  grandmamma,  smiling,  "  was 
one  of  White  Jessamine's  funny  sayings.  She  said 
she  always  felt  so  good  after  she  had  been 
naughty." 

"  I  want  to  hear  more  about  her,"  said  Minnie ; 
"  don't  you,  Sarah  ?" 

Sarah  replied  that  she  would  like  it  very  much, 
but  that  she  thought  everything  Mrs.  Wildford  told 
them  was  very  nice. 

"  I  cannot  promise  you  much  more  about  White 
Jessamine,"  said  grandmamma,  "  but  at  our  next 
talk  I  will  tell  you  about  White  Jessamine's 
husband." 

"Oh,"  exclaimed  Minnie,  "I  am  so  glad!  I 
want  to  hear  about  him  ever  so  much.  I  hope  he 
was  very  nice  indeed,  grandmamma?" 

"  We  thought  so,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford.  "  But 
I  am  going  to  invite  my  company  to  leave  me 
now." 

"One  good  kiss  first,"  said  Minnie,  warmly; 
"you  are  just  the  dearest  grandmamma  that  ever 
lived !" 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE    YOUNG  BRAHMIN. 

I O  turn  those  monkeys  out!"  said  Mr.  Bolton 
as  he  saw  the  children  making  a  rush 
for  their  grandmamma's  room  after  dinner ; 
"  they  must  be  a  perfect  nuisance  !" 

"  I  will  turn  them  out  as  soon  as  I  get  tired  of 
them,"  was  the  smiling  reply,  "but  just  now  I 
cannot  do  very  well  without  them." 

Harry  felt  very  much  elated  at  this,  and  grand 
mamma  was  quite  amused  at  the  air  with  which 
he  walked  into  the  room. 

"  Now,"  said  Minnie,  almost  before  they  were 
seated,  "  tell  us  about  White  Jessamine's  husband, 
please." 

"  His  name  was  Ram  Ganesha,"  said  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford,  "and  here  is  a  picture  of  him  in  his  Hindoo 
dress,  before  he  became  a  Christian  ;  you  see  that  he 
wears  the  Brahminical  turban  and  purdikah,  and 
here  is  the  sacerdotal  or  threefold  cord  over  his  left 
shoulder.  This  cord  is  laid  aside  at  baptism." 

"  He's  a  real  cross-looking  fellow,"  said  Harry. 

217 


218  rifK   W1LDFORDS  IX  INDIA. 

"He  was  not  cross-looking,"  replied  his  grand 
mother,  "  but  he  was  very  earnest,  and  in  having 
his  photograph  taken,  he  seems  to  have  been  look 
ing  very  solemn  for  fear  of  spoiling  it." 

"  I  think  I  should  be  afraid  of  him,"  said 
Minnie,  after  studying  the  picture  a  while,  "he 
looks  as  if  he  knew  so  much." 

"He  was  very  learned  for  so  young  a  man," 
replied  Mrs.  Wildford.  "But  I  shall  begin  my 
story  regularly,  and  call  it 

"THE   YOUNG   BRAHMIN. 

"  Your  grandfather  first  became  acquainted  with 
Ram  Ganesha  by  employing  him  as  teacher  for  a 
school  that  he  superintended  a  few  miles  from 
Bombay." 

"  Was  he  a  heathen  then?"  asked  Harry. 

"Yes;  he  was  a  very  strict  Brahmin,  and  we 
were  as  glad  to  get  such  teachers  as  they  were  to 
be  employed.  They  brought  the  children  on  nicely 
in  their  reading,  and  they  were  quite  willing  to 
teach  them  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  command 
ments,  and  whatever  other  Scripture  lessons  we 
appointed.  They  said  it  would  do  them  no  harm, 
and  there  was  really  a  great  deal  of  good  in  our 
Shasters." 


THE   YOt'XG    BRAHMIN.  219 

"It  seems  very  funny,"  said  Harry,  "to  have 
heathens  to  teach  the  children  about  the  Bible." 

"It  does  seem  so,  I  know,"  was  the  reply,  "but 
we  had  so  few  Christian  teachers  that  we  did  just 
the  best  we  could,  and  we  found  our  Brahmins 
perfectly  trustworthy.  The  children  had  to  be 
first  taught  to  read  in  their  own  language,  and 
as  Hindoos  understood  this  better,  they  could  teach 
them  better  than  we  could. 

"  Ram  Ganesha  was  a  great  favorite  with  us ;  his 
manners  were  very  courteous,  and  his  information 
on  general  subjects  so  extensive  that  your  grand 
father  enjoyed  a  chat  with  him  very  much.  Of 
religion  he  would  not  speak  at  all ;  whenever  the 
subject  was  introduced,  he  would  make  his  salaam 
just  as  soon  as  politeness  would  let  him,  or,  if 
obliged  to  stay,  he  became  rigidly  silent.  He  was 
said  to  be  an  unusually  strict  Hindoo,  and  a  de 
voted  worshiper  of  the  elephant-headed  Gunputti, 
after  whom  he  was  named  :  Ganesha  is  only  another 
form  of  it." 

"  What  a  pity,"  said  Minnie,  "  when  he  was 
so  nice !" 

"  He  came  out  all  right,"  replied  Harry,  "didn't 
he,  grandmamma?" 

"  I  never  like  to  tell  the  end  of  ray  story  at  the 


220  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

beginning,"  said  Mrs.  "Wild  ford.  "  Ram  Ganesha 
gave  his  pupils  a  holiday  on  Wednesday  and 
Saturday  afternoons,  and  on  these  occasions  he 
was  very  apt  to  ride  over  to  Bombay  and  pay 
a  visit  to  the  missionary's  study,  to  give  him  an 
account  of  matters  and  things  at  the  school.  One 
afternoon  he  came,  as  usual,  but  he  was  evidently 
very  much  troubled  about  something;  he  scarcely 
spoke  a  word,  and  appeared  to  hear  very  little  that 
was  said  to  him. 

"  Your  grandfather  supposed  that  something  had 
happened  in  the  school,  and  tried  to  question  him 
about  it,  but  Ram  Ganesha  said  hurriedly  that  the 
school  was  doing  well,  and  then  mounted  his  horse 
and  rode  off.  The  missionary  was  quite  puzzled  by 
this  strange  conduct,  and  it  was  some  time  before 
the  mystery  was  cleared  up. 

"  That  you  may  understand  it  from  the  begin 
ning,  I  am  going  to  take  you  to  the  tank  just  out 
side  of  the  city." 

"  Isn't  that  a  dark  place  full  of  water  ?"  asked 
Minnie. 

"  It  is  full  of  water,"  replied  her  grandmamma, 
"  but  it  is  not  dark.  These  tanks  are  very  com 
mon  in  India;  they  are  square  places  dug  in  the 
earth  and  lined  with  stone  or  chunam ;  the  rains 


THE  YOUNG  BRAHMIN.  221 

fill  them  with  water,  and  men  and  women  come 
with  their  pitchers,  as  Rebecca  did  to  the  well. 
Flights  of  stone  steps  lead  down  into  the  tank, 
which  is  also  used  to  bathe  in  by  the  water-loving 
Hindoos,  and  flowers  and  shrubs  are  often  planted 
around  it.  It  is  a  favorite  resort  of  the  Brahmins 
and  chief  men  of  the  city  in  the  cool  of  the  day, 
and  it  was  at  the  tank  that  our  young  friend  Ram 
Ganesha  became  so  unsettled.  It  is  a  very  common 
thing  at  these  gatherings  to  have  a  sort  of  debating- 
society  ;  the  Hindoos  are  very  fond  of  argument, 
and  they  listen  attentively  to  the  most  long-winded 
discussions.  Every  man  has  a  right  to  his  say,  and 
no  one  interrupts  him  until  it  is  finished. 

"On  the  evening  in  question  a  kubeer-punt 
appeared  before  the  Brahmins  and  attacked  them 
boldly  upon  the  subject  of  idolatry.  He  told  them 
very  truly  that  to  be  an  idolater  was  utterly  un 
worthy  of  a  reasonable  being,  and  asked  them  how 
men  of  their  learning  could  believe  and  teach  so 
preposterous  a  doctrine. 

"  He  was  very  bold  and  very  eloquent ;  the  an 
swers  of  the  Brahmins  were  knocked  to  pieces  by 
him  as  soon  as  they  were  uttered,  and  that  grave 
atid  dignified  body  were  very  much  scandalized  by 
the  proceedings.  Ram  Ganesha  fairly  trembled  with 


222  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

indignation,  and  could  scarcely  wait  for  his  elders 
to  finish  before  he  rushed  to  the  rescue.  He  was 
quite  ashamed  of  their  acquitting  themselves  so 
badly  before  the  kubeer-punt,  and  his  blood 
boiled  to  avenge  the  insults  heaped  upon  the  gods. 

"  The  kubeer-punt  found  him  a  stronger  adver 
sary  than  he  had  yet  encountered,  and  he  listened  ad 
miringly  to  the  mingled  attack  and  defence  poured 
upon  him  by  the  young  Brahmin.  He  stood  his 
ground,  however,  and  came  off  victorious;  the 
Brahmins  had  to  acknowledge  themselves  van 
quished,  as  far  as  words  went,  and  Ram  Ganesha 
took  it  so  much  to  heart  that  he  could  neither  eat 
nor  sleep.  That  man,  he  thought,  must  be  an 
swered,  and  his  doctrine  annihilated,  but  how  to 
do  it? 

"  While  thinking  deeply  over  the  matter,  the 
simple  catechism  containing  the  first  principles  of 
Christianity  which  he  taught  in  the  school  came 
into  his  mind.  That  would  do — why  not?  He 
would  vanquish  the  kubeer-punt  with  the  Chris 
tian  doctrines ;  no  matter  what  weapons  were  used, 
so  that  the  blasphemer  did  not  triumph. 

"  He  proposed  it  to  the  Brahmins,  and  found 
them  quite  of  his  mind ;  then  he  went  vigorously 
to  work  to  siudy  Christianity  as  he  had  never 


THE   YOUXO  BRAIfMlX  223 

studied  it  before.  He  was  surprised  at  it;  the 
more  keen  and  searching  the  light  brought  to  bear 
upon  it,  the  more  its  truth  and  beauty  flashed  upon 
his  mind.  '  This  is  true,'  he  said  to  himself — 'this 
is  true,  and  we  are  all  wrong!' 

"  But  the  kubeer-punt  must  be  answered :  that 
was  the  main  thing  just  now ;  and  an  evening 
having  been  fixed  for  a  second  discussion,  the 
Brahmins  were  all  in  their  places  at  the  tank,  and 
with  them  the  kubeer-punt. 

"  Ram  Ganesha  was  allowed  to  begin,  and  he 
opened  the  argument  in  a  way  that  was  quite  un 
expected  to  his  adversary.  He  would  not  speak, 
he  said,  of  the  holy  gods  whom  the  kubeer-punt 
had  reviled :  he  would  let  that  pass  for  the  pres 
ent  ;  he  wished  to  be  answered  first  on  some  other 
points.  He  would  show  the  kubeer-punt  that  his 
doctrine  was  altogether  wrong,  for  if  he  followed 
it  out  consistently,  he  would  end  by  being  a  Chris 
tian. 

"  I  cannot  repeat  to  you  the  words  that  Ram 
Gimesha  used,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  do  so ;  it  is  suf 
ficient  to  say  that  he  had  mastered  his  subject 
thoroughly,  and  the  arguments  were  so  well  ar 
ranged  that  the  circle  of  Brahmins  listened  in  ad 
miring  delight,  while  the  kubeer-punt  was  utterly 


224  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

amazed  to  be  attacked  by  a  Hindoo  with  weapons 
from  the  Christian  armory. 

"He  could  not  answer  the  young  Brahmin,  and 
the  question  was  for  the  first  time  brought  to  his 
mind,  Why  was  he  not  a  Christian  ?  He  would 
hear  more  of  this  new  doctrine,  and  leaving  the 
field  to  his  opponent,  he  walked  thoughtfully  home 
to  reflect  on  what  he  had  heard. 

"  Ram  Ganesha  was  flushed  with  his  victory  and 
elated  by  the  compliments  and  congratulations  of 
his  elders;  they  pronounced  him  a  finished  actor, 
and  declared  that,  if  they  had  not  known  him, 
they  would  have  taken  him  for  a  Christian.  One 
shrewd  old  fellow  took  it  upon  himself  to  make 
the  young  man  a  private  visit  of  inspection  ;  he  had 
his  suspicions  of  Ram  Ganesha,  who  seemed  much 
too  well  acquainted  with  the  Christian  arguments 
for  his  own  good,  but  when  he  charged  his  young 
brother  with  leaving  the  religion  of  his  fathers, 
Ram  Ganesha  carried  on  the  character  he  had  as 
sumed  with  the  kubeer-punt,  and  answered  so 
calmly  and  forcibly  that  the  old  Brahmin  scarcely 
knew  what  to  make  of  him. 

"  He  repeated  matters  to  the  other  Brahmins,  but 
they  laughed  at  his  suspicions.  '  It  was  only  more 
of  his  capital  acting,'  they  said ;  '  Ram  Ganesha  was 


THE   YOUNG  BRAHMIN.  225 

a  clever  fellow,  and  he  meant  to  make  the  most  of 
his  joke.' 

"  Meanwhile,  an  inward  uneasiness  gave  Ram 
Ganesha  no  peace,  and  he  became  so  grave  and  ab 
sent-minded  that  he  scarcely  seemed  like  the  same 
person.  He  saw  that  he  must  make  a  choice :  on 
the  one  hand,  Christ  and  heaven;  on  the  other,  his 
parents,  his  friends,  all  his  hopes  of  earthly  honor 
and  happiness.  The  vision  of  St.  Paul  at  Damas 
cus  seemed  to  open  before  him,  and  the  tender 
love  of  the  gentle  reproach,  '  Why  persecutest  me?' 
sank  into  his  heart.  It  was  this  heavenly  love  that 
haunted  him  ;  it  was  so  different  from  anything  in 
the  Hindoo  belief  that  it  filled  his  thoughts  con 
tinually. 

"  During  this  season  of  indecision,  Ram  Ganesha 
resolved  to  visit  the  Padre  Sahib  and  open  his 
heart  to  him,  but  when  he  got  there,  he  could  not 
speak  ;  he  felt  that  this  would  be  committing  him 
self,  and  he  was  not  quite  ready.  He  wished  that 
he  had  never  seen  the  kubeer-punt,  who  was  the 
cause  of  all  his  trouble,  for,  now  that  his  eyes  were 
opened,  he  could  not  put  himself  back  where  he 
was  before. 

"At  length  the  struggle  was  ended ;  he  pros 
trated  himself  before  the  loving  Saviour,  with  the 
is 


226  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

inquiry,  'Lord,  what  will  thou  have  me  to  do?' 
He  had  fully  counted  the  cost,  and  he  did  not 
shrink  from  the  sacrifice.  He  went  again  to  the 
missionary,  whose  heart  was  filled  with  joy  at  what 
seemed  to  him  little  short  of  a  miracle. 

"  '  Now,'  said  Ram  Ganesha,  when  he  had  finished 
his  story,  'you  must  direct  me,  my  father,  what  to 
do;  what  is  required  of  me,  in  the  first  place,  as  a 
Christian  ?' 

" '  You  can  no  longer  keep  your  school,'  replied 
the  missionary,  thoughtfully,  'for  your  life  would 
not  be  safe  there.  You  had  better  come  to  us  for 
the  present  that  you  may  keep  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  Brahmins.' 

"For  you  must  know  that  such  is  their  hatred 
of  native  converts  they  will  even  kill  a  person 
who  is  supposed  to  be  in  danger  of  becoming  a 
Christian.  They  think  it  reasonable  enough  that 
people  of  another  nation  shall  be  of  what  religion 
they  please,  but  for  a  man  to  leave  the  religion 
of  his  forefathers  is  not  to  be  tolerated  for  a 
moment. 

"'I  will  do  as  you  say,  Padre  Sahib,'  said  Ram 
Ganesha,  after  a  moment's  reflection,  '  but  I  have 
always  been  a  dutiful  sou ;  I  must  first  look  upon 
the  faces  of  my  parents  for  the  last  time  in  this 


THE   YOUNG   BRAHMIN.  227 

world.  They  will,  you  know,  disown  me  as  soon 
as  they  find  that  I  am  a  Christian.' 

" '  But  are  you  not  afraid,'  asked  your  grand 
father,  'that  they  will  keep  you  with  them  l>y 
force,  rather  than  let  you  disgrace  your  family  by 
l>ecoming  a  Christian  ?' 

"'I  shall  not  tell  them  that  I  have  changed,' 
was  the  reply;  'I  will  see  them  once  more  as 
though  nothing  had  happened,  and  write  to  them 
on  my  return.' 

"'But  will  you  deny  Christ?'  continued  the 
missionary,  earnestly;  'occasions  will  arise  to  tempt 
your  faith,  and  I  think  that,  under  the  circum 
stances,  the  visit  is  an  unwise  one.' 

" '  I  can  manage,'  said  Ram  Ganesha,  confidently, 
'and  I  mmt  see  my  mother,  who  loves  me  very 
dearly,  once  more  before  she  dies.' 

"The  missionary  gazed  after  the  young  convert 
with  a  heavy  heart  as  he  rode  away ;  he  feared 
that  he  might  not  see  him  again  alive,  or  that, 
under  strong  temptation,  he  would  return  to  hea 
thenism.  His  parents  lived  at  Ahmednuggur,  a 
<-i(y  which  you  will  find  here  on  the  map  just 
beyond  the  Concan,  and  it  would  probably  be  a 
week  before  anything  was  heard  of  him. 

"  The  first  news  from  Ram  Ganesha  was  not  satis- 


228  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

factory.  A  hurriedly-written  note  was  received, 
which  read  :  '  Come  quickly,  my  dear  friend,  if 
you  think  me  worth  the  trouble.  I  am  a  prisoner, 
and  see  no  way  of  escape  unless  you  help  me.' 

"Your  grandfather  did  not  stop  for  anything, 
except  to  write  to  a  friend  at  the  next  town  to  have 
a  horse  ready  for  him,  as  his  own  would  need  rest  by 
the  time  that  he  reached  it,  and  with  a  hurried  fare 
well  to  me  he  set  forth  on  his  journey. 

"  He  found  the  fresh  horse  and  some  very  ac 
ceptable  refreshment,  and  without  stopping  to  rest 
himself,  he  pushed  on  to  the  next  station.  It  was 
very  warm  and  the  roads  were  dusty ;  the  mis 
sionary's  white  clothes  were  quite  brown  by  the 
time  he  arrived  at  the  end  of  his  day's  journey. 

"He  had  intended  to  spend  the  night  at  the 
travelers'  bungalow,  which  afforded  nothing  but 
a  bare  shelter,  but  an  English  officer  in  the  place 
who  knew  him  insisted  on  taking  him  to  his 
house,  where  a  bath  and  supper  and  pleasant 
society  soon  revived  him.  His  own  horse  was 
sent  on  here,  as  he  had  requested,  and  early  the 
next  morning  he  started  again. 

"  When  he  had  gone  about  three-quarters  of  the 
way,  a  note  was  handed  him  from  the  magistrate 
of  the  towr  where  he  had  stopped  the  day  before 


THE   YOUN(*   bRAHMIN.  229 

tilling  him  that  the  man  he  sought  was  there. 
Back  he  went,  full  of  hope,  and  soon  had  the 
pleasure  of  shaking  hands  with  Ram  Ganesha, 
who  had  a  long  story  to  tell. 

"  When  he  got  to  his  father's  house  at  Ahmed- 
nii"-irur,  he  found  no  one  there  hut  his  mother:  his 

?5O          "  " 

father  had  gone  on  a  journey  and  his  elder  brother 
was  out.  His  mother  loaded  him  with  caresses, 
and  then,  in  the  excess  of  her  joy  at  seeing  him  so 
unexpectedly,  she  prepared  him  a  dinner  of  the 

best  the  house  afforded. 

" '  Come,  my  son/  said  she,  affectionately,  to  him  ; 
'the  food  is  ready;  pay  puja  (that  is,  offer  religious 
worship)  to  Gunputti,  and  then  eat  and  refresh 
yourself.' 

"  Here  was  a  dilemma  that  Ram  Ganesha  was  not 
prepared  for;  he  had  counted  on  the  presence  of 
his  elder  brother  in  his  father's  absence,  and  in  that 
case  he  would  not  have  been  called  upon  to  perform 
puja,  as  this  duty  always  fell  to  the  eldest  male 
member  of  the  family  then  present. 

"  He  scarcely  knesv  what  to  do,  for  he  could 
not  bear  to  give  his  loving  mother  such  a  blow 
as  a  confession  of  his  faith  would  be,  and  he  re 
plied  confusedly :  '  Oh,  never  mind  about  puja, 
mother.' 


230  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  'Never  mind  about  puja  !  Why,  my  son,  are 
you  crazy  ?' 

" '  There  is  no  use  in  it/  he  continued,  more 
boldly;  'Gunputti  cannot  hear  us.' 

"While  his  mother  was  staring  wildly  at  him 
his  elder  brother  came  in. 

"'Do  you  hear  him?'  she  cried;  'he  will  not 
pay  puja !  He  has  been  listening  to  the  vile,  beef- 
eating  Christians !' 

"His  brother  looked  at  him  fixedly,  and  Ram 
Ganesha  braced  himself  for  the  worst. 

"  'Are  you  a  Christian  ?'  was  the  question  he  had 
been  expecting. 

" '  I  am,'  he  replied,  boldly.  The  time  had  come 
for  him  to  confess  or  deny  Christ,  and  he  remained 
firm. 

"  '  Have  you  been  baptized  and  received  among 
the  Christians?'  continued  his  brother. 

" '  No,'  said  Ram  Ganesha,  '  but  I  intend  this  so 
soon  as  I  return.' 

"His  brother  replied  by  closing  the  door  upon 
him  and  fastening  it.  They  had  him  now  in  safe 
keeping,  and  so  long  as  he  had  not  been  baptized 
his  caste  was  not  lost,  and  there  were  yet  hopes  of 
him.  They  would  get  the  Brahmins  there,  and 
see  what  arguments  and  threats  could  do  to  turn 


THE   YOUNO  BRAHMIN.  231 

him  from  his  purjwse,  but  rather  would  they  lose 
him  by  death  than  have  him  disgrace  his  high  caste 
by  turning  Christian. 

"  Poor  Ram  Gancsha  was  sorely  tried  for  a  young, 
inexperienced  convert,  but  the  Brahmins  found 
nini  more  than  a  match  for  them,  as  he  had  the 
advantage  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their  re 
ligion  as  well  as  of  his  own,  and  when  they  found 
that  they  could  do  nothing  with  him  in  argument, 
they  threatened  his  life. 

"They  left  him  in  a  rage,  and  Ram  Ganesha 
hastily  scratched  off  a  few  lines  to  your  grand 
father  and  a  similar  note  to  the  English  head  of 
native  police  at  Ahmednuggur.  Then  he  watched 
through  the  iron  grating  that  in  India  answers 
the  purpose  of  a  window,  for  a  passing  boy  to 
carry  his  notes.  Boys  are  not  difficult  to  find  any 
where,  and  Ram  Ganesha  called  to  the  first  one  that 
appeared,  offering  him  two  pice  to  take  his  letters 
to  the  office.  The  boy,  who  did  not  know  that  he 
was  a  prisoner,  readily  consented,  and  having  done 
all  that  he  could  to  help  himself,  the  young  Brah 
min  committed  his  cause  to  God  and  awaited  the 
result. 

"  This  came  sooner  than  he  expected  in  the  shape 
of  a  file  of  sepoys,  or  native  soldiers,  with  the  mar- 


232  THE  WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

shal  at  their  head.  He  knocked  at  the  door,  and 
Ram  Ganesha's  brother  called  out  from  within  to 
ask  what  he  wanted. 

" '  We  want  Ram  Ganesha.' 

"  '  He  is  not  here,'  was  the  reply. 

"  '  He  is  here/  said  the  marshal,  '  and,  moreover, 
he  is  a  prisoner.  Open  the  door,  or  I  shall  break 
it  down/ 

"  To  refuse  any  longer  was  useless,  and  the  door 
was  opened. 

"'Now,  my  good  woman/  continued  the  officer, 
'  where  is  your  son,  Ram  Ganesha  ?' 

"'He  is  in  his  room,  sick/  replied  the  mother; 
'  he  cannot  be  disturbed.  You  can  have  no  busi 
ness  with  him.' 

" '  Lead  me  to  him  at  once/  said  the  marshal, 
'  or  his  door  shall  be  forced.' 

"Trembling  and  powerless,  the  mother  and 
brother  did  as  they  were  ordered,  and  the  prisoner 
saw  that  release  was  at  hand. 

" '  Ram  Ganesha/  said  the  marshal, '  are  you  kept 
here  against  your  will  ?' 

" '  I  am/  was  the  reply. 

" '  Do  you  wish  to  leave  this  place  ?' 

"'I  do.' 

"  'You  are  free,  then,  to  go  where  you  please.' 


THE  YOUNO  SRAITMIN.  233 

"  Ram  Ganesha's  mother  cursed  him  as  he  passed 
out,  and  his  brother  scowled  fiercely  upon  him  ;  he 
went  forth  sadly  from  the  home  that  had  become  a 
prison,  and  his  first  thought  was  to  get  back  to  his 
missionary  friend  at  Bombay.  The  marshal  kindly 
gave  him  a  guard  of  soldiers  to  the  next  station, 
and  there  he  was  told  that  his  kind  friend  had 
passed  through  the  place  only  the  day  before  on 
his  way  to  him. 

"  On  the  first  opportunity,  Ram  Ganesha  con 
fessed  Christ  before  men,  and  was  received  into 
the  Christian  Church.  The  name  of  Paul  was 
given  to  him  in  baptism  at  his  own  request,  for 
his  conversion  seemed  to  him  scarcely  less  re 
markable  than  that  of  the  apostle  whose  faith 
and  zeal  he  desired  to  emulate. 

"His  family,  feeling  that  he  was  now  lost  to 
them  for  ever,  sent  for  Brahmins  and  friends,  and 
had  his  funeral  rites  performed  as  though  he  were 
really  dead.  His  elder  brother  took  the  disgrace 
so  much  to  heart  that  he  renounced  all  worldly 
pleasure  and  comfort,  and  wandered  from  place 
to  place  as  a  fakir,  or  religious  devotee. 

"Ram  Ganesha,  or  Paul,  as  he  must  now  be 
called,  also  went  from  place  to  place  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  his  fellow-countrymen,  and  on  one 


234  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

of  these  journeys  he  found  his  brother  almost 
stripped  of  clothing,  daubed  with  ashes  and  dirt, 
sitting  between  two  fires,  with  the  burning  sun  of 
India  beating  on  his  unsheltered  head. 

"He  would  not  listen,  at  first,  to  Paul's  words, 
and  ordered  him  out  of  his  sight,  as  one  who  had 
brought  heavy  sorrow  upon  him,  but  the  Chris 
tian  brother  persevered,  and  the  light  of  the  gos 
pel  finally  dawned  upon  that  clouded  mind.  He 
was  washed  and  clothed  and  brought  to  the  mis 
sion  house,  and  Paul's  joy  over  him  was  shared 
by  all  his  Christian  friends." 

"Well,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  "Ram  Ga- 
nesha  was  nice,  I  think,  and  I'm  glad  he  married 
White  Jessamine.  How  old  was  she  when  she 
was  married  ?" 

"  About  seventeen,  I  think,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Did  she  grow  up  pretty  ?"  asked  Harry. 

"Very  pretty,  indeed,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and 
she  was  such  a  bright,  sunshiny  Christian  that  it 
was  a  pleasure  to  be  near  her.  She  was  just  the 
right  kind  of  wife  for  Paul,  who  was  inclined  to 
be  grave  and  reserved,  and  they  did  a  great  deal 
of  good  together  among  the  natives." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

JAY  AH  AND   RAMKOOR. 

jO  try  and  think  of  some  more  stories, 
grandmamma,"  pleaded  Minnie,  on  the 
next  afternoon ;  "  I  like  them  so  much. 
Weren't  there  any  nice  little  girls  in  the 
school  besides  Gunga,  and  Tulasi,  and  White 
Jessamine?" 

"/want  to  hear  about  a  boy,"  said  Harry. 
"  You  had  a  boy  last  time,"  replied  his  sister ; 
"  Ram  Ganesha  was  a  boy." 

"Rather  an  old  boy,  I  think,"  said  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford,  "  but  I  dare  say  that  Harry  will  be  willing  to 
hear  about  two  or  three  little  girls." 

Harry  looked  very  willing  indeed,  and  his 
grandmamma  continued : 

"I  cannot  tell  you  a  great  deal  about  them,  be 
cause  there  is  not  much  to  tell,  and  I  dare  say  you 
will  think  what  there  is  very  sad.  Several  years 
after  White  Jessamine  came  to  us  a  dear  little 
gii  1  named  Jayah  was  brought  into  the  school." 

235 


236  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"'Jair?'"  repeated  Minnie;  "isn't  that  the 
name  of  the  woman  in  the  Bible  who  drove  a  nail 
into  some  man's  head  ?" 

"You  are  thinking  of  Jael,"  replied  her  grand 
mamma,  "who  killed  Sisera  in  this  way.  The 
meaning  of  Jayah  is  victory.  In  English  our 
little  one's  name  would  have  been  Victoria,  and 
you  will  see  how  she  did  obtain  a  victory. 

"  Your  grandfather  was  walking  one  day  on  the 
esplanade,  which  is  the  smooth  part  of  the  beach 
at  Bombay.  A  beautiful  grove  of  cocoanut  trees 
nearly  covers  it,  and  it  is  a  delightful  place  to  walk 
in.  Very  handsome  bungalows  belonging  to  Eu 
ropeans  are  to  be  seen  there  in  the  dry  season,  but 
when  the  terrible  monsoon  begins  to  drive  the  ships 
about  in  the  harbor  and  wreck  those  that  are  at  sea, 
these  pretty  houses  have  to  be  moved  away  like  so 
many  tents,  for  very  soon  there  is  a  deep  sheet  of 
water  where  they  stood,  and  it  is  not  safe  to  live 
near  the  beach  while  the  rainy  season  lasts. 

"  So  the  bungalows  are  put  away,  like  our  sum 
mer  clothes,  for  another  year,  but  there  are  very  fine 
houses  farther  back,  within  the  fort,  and  many  of 
them  are  several  stories  high,  with  verandahs  and 
carved  pillars  at  every  story.  At  one  end  of  the 
esplanade  if  what  is  called  the  black  town,  also  a 


•••   V 


& 


P.VRSKK    (jIUL    AM)    RoBBKI! 


p.  227. 


JA  YAH  AND  RAMKOOR.  237 

part  of  Bombay,  but  a  very  disagreeable  part,  for 
the  streets  are  so  narrow  and  crowded  that  it  is 
fearfully  hot  and  dusty. 

"A  great  many  Parsees  live  near  the  beach,  for 
they  love  to  worship  on  the  shore  at  sunrise  and 
sunset,  when  they  often  stand  at  the  water's  edge 
praying  aloud  in  a  strange  language  that  some  people 
say  they  do  not  understand  themselves,  while  others 
lie  down  flat  in  the  sand  and  rub  their  faces  in  it. 
Their  temple,  where  the  sacred  fire  is  said  to  have 
been  preserved  through  so  many  thousand  years, 
is  in  the  black  town. 

"Your  grandfather  during  his  walk  heard  a 
child's  cry  of  distress,  and  hastening  to  that  part 
of  the  grove  from  which  it  seemed  to  come,  he 
found  a  beautiful  little  Parsee  girl  very  richly 
dressed  struggling  in  the  grasp  of  a  robber,  who 
had  torn  off  some  of  her  ornaments,  and  was  on 
the  point  of  strangling  her  to  stop  her  cries. 

"  When  the  gentleman  appeared,  the  thief  took 
to  his  heels,  and  your  grandfather  lifted  up  the 
little  trembling  creature  in  his  arms  and  carried 
her  to  her  parents.  She  had  strayed  some  distance 
from  the  house,  and  if  the  missionary  had  not  ap 
peared  when  he  did,  it  is  probable  that  she  never 
would  have  returned  to  it.  The  child  told  him 


238  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

that  her  name  was  Jayah,  and  put  her  arms  around 
his  neck  in  the  most  confiding  manner. 

"Your  grandfather  talked  to  her  of  the  school 
and  the  little  girls  who  were  taught  there,  and 
asked  her  if  she  would  not  like  to  come.  She 
said,  '  Yes,  that  she  would  come,  for  her  father  was 
a  rich  man  and  could  do  as  he  pleased.' 

"Just  as  she  said  this  her  father  and  mother 
appeared,  for  they  had  gone  out  to  look  for  her, 
and  they  were  very  much  surprised  to  see  their 
child  in  the  arms  of  a  stranger.  When  your 
grandfather  told  his  story,  they  were  very  grateful 
to  him,  and  Jayah  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about 
the  bad  man  who  wanted  to  choke  her. 

"  The  missionary  then  spoke  of  the  school,  and 
the  child  begged  that  she  might  be  allowed  to  go. 
The  Parsees  were  rather  frightened  at  this  idea, 
but  they  did  not  wish  to  appear  ungrateful,  and 
finally  they  consented  to  place  Jayah  at  the  mis 
sion  house  for  a  while,  on  condition  that  she 
should  not  be  taught  to  worship  the  God  of  the 
Christians. 

"  Your  grandfather  told  them  that  their  child 
would  receive  the  same  instruction  as  the  other 
children,  but  that  no  direct  means  would  be  used 
to  make  her  a  Christian.  With  this  they  seemed 


JAY  AH  AND  RAMKOOR.  239 

content,  and  little  Jayah,  to  her  great  delight,  was 
brought  into  the  school. 

"  White  Jessamine,  who  always  loved  to  pet  and 
protect  anything  weaker  than  herself,  took  the  lit 
tle  stranger  at  once  under  her  own  wing,  and  so 
won  her  loving  little  heart  by  her  kind  and  unsel 
fish  care  that  Jayah  soon  looked  up  to  her  as  a 
superior  being.  Alore  than  this,  White  Jessamine 
talked  to  her  constantly  of  the  dear  Lord  Jesus 
whom  she  was  learning  to  love,  and  the  little 
Parsee  listened  in  wondering  awe. 

"  She  would  hold  lovingly  in  her  hand  the 
gospels  that  she  could  not  read,  and  drink  in  every 
word  when  White  Jessamine  told  her  the  wondrous 
story  that  has  saved  so  many  sinners  from  despair. 

"Jayah  went  with  her  friend  when  the  children 
stole  out  of  their  little  beds  at  night,  and  she  never 
failed  to  say  the  little  prayer  that  White  Jessamine 
taught  her. 

"  But  some  of  the  other  pupils  whose  hearts 
were  not  in  these  things  carried  to  the  Parsee 
father  and  mother  the  report  that  Jayah  was  meet 
ing  with  the  Christians,  that  she  worshiped  their 
God  and  would  soon  be  lost  to  her  parents  for 
ever.  They  were  very  angry,  and  threatened  to 
take  her  from  the  school. 


240  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  The  child  cried  herself  sick  when  she  heard  of 
this,  and  said  that  she  would  not  go  away  from  her 
dear  Padre  and  Madam  Sahib  and  White  Jessamine 
— she  would  die  first. 

"  We  tried  to  teach  her  that  this  was  wrong,  and 
that  she  must  obey  her  parents  if  she  would  please 
the  Lord  Jesus. 

"  She  looked  up  with  a  sweet  smile,  and  said,  '  I 
will  do  whatever  he  wants/  but  we  little  thought 
that  she  would  indeed  die  ere  she  left  her  adopted 
home. 

"  The  very  next  day  her  parents  came  for  her, 
but  our  little  Victory  lay  upon  her  mat  sick  unto 
death.  She  was  in  great  pain,  for  she  had  been 
seized  with  cholera,  and  her  mother  screamed  and 
tore  her  hair  when  she  saw  her  only  child  beyond 
the  reach  of  human  aid,  while  the  father  gazed 
mournfully  on  his  little  Jayah  with  great  tears 
rolling  down  his  cheeks. 

"But  the  child  was  calm  in  all  her  sufferings. 
She  lay  perfectly  still  on  her  mat,  and  only  said, 
when  she  saw  her  parents'  distress,  '  Do  not  mourn 
for  me.  I  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  I  am 
going  to  be  with  him  always.  I  am  not  afraid. 
T  want  you  to  come  too.' 

"She   did  not  speak  again,  and  presently  the 


JAY  AH  AND  RAMKOOR.  241 

missionary  offered  a  prayer  to  Him  who  giveth 
us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Little  Jayah  passed  away  before  it  was  finished, 
and  there  was  a  smile  upon  her  lips  so  beautiful 
that  all  who  saw  it  felt  that  she  had  been  rightly 
named." 

"Grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  with  a  very  un 
steady  voice  and  something  in  her  eyes  that  looked 
like  tears,  "  did  you  not  say  that  the  wicked  Par- 
sees  left  their  dead  people  to  be  eaten  up  by  birds 
and  animals?" 

"  This  is  their  custom  in  disposing  of  their  dead, 
my  child,  but  our  dear  little  Jayah  received  Chris 
tian  burial.  Her  parents  said  that  she  belonged  to 
us  now,  and  they  would  not  take  her  away.  With 
many  tears,  White  Jessamine  arrayed  the  little  form 
in  a  white  robe,  and  a  wreath  of  white  flowers  was 
placed  upon  her  head.  She  was  so  lovely  that  we 
were  loth  to  put  her  out  of  our  sight,  but  in  India 
it  is  so  very  hot  that  but  little  time  can  be  allowed 
to  gaze  upon  the  dead,  and  feeling  that  the  soul  of 
this  little  lamb  was  in  the  bosom  of  the  good  Shep 
herd,  and  that  she  was  safe  from  the  troubles  of  this 
world,  we  laid  her  body  in  the  ground  to  wait  for 
the  resurrection." 

"I    don't   like   their   all    dying,    ma'am,      said 

16 


242  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

Sarah  as  she  wiped  her  eyes ;  "  didn't  any  >f  the 
good  ones  live?" 

"  I  have  only  told  you  of  two  that  died,"  re 
plied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  Tulasi  and  Jayah,  and  you 
must  remember  that,  had  they  lived,  they  would 
have  suffered  great  persecution,  and  perhaps  in 
the  end  have  renounced  their  faith.  Death  is  not 
an  accident,  Sarah  :  it  comes  to  us  all  at  one  time  or 
another ;  and  oh  what  a  blessing  if  it  come  when 
we  are  best  prepared  !" 

Sarah  had  given  very  few  serious  thoughts  to  the 
subject,  but  after  these  words  she  could  scarcely 
get  it  out  of  her  mind. 

"Any  more  stories,  grandmamma?"  said  Minnie, 
wistfully. 

Mrs.  Wildford  smiled. 

"  We  had  a  blind  girl  named  Ramkoor  in  the 
school,"  said  she,  presently,  "  and,  blind  as  she  was, 
she  was  one  of  our  greatest  comforts.  She  was  not 
blind,  though,  when  she  came  to  us,  and  you  will 
think  it  very  sad  when  you  hear  how  she  became 
so." 

"  Tell  us,  please,"  said  Minnie,  who  was  still 
weeping  over  Jayah. 

"  Ramkoor  was  one  of  our  oldest  and  finest  girls ; 
she  was  very  intelligent,  but  quiet  and  reserved, 


JAYAH  AND  RAMKOOR.  243 

and  I  thought  her  almost  cold,  until  I  found  that 
she  had  very  deep  feelings  under  that  quiet  manner. 
Her  family  were  of  very  good  caste,  and  her 
mother,  who  was  violently  opposed  to  Christianity, 
was  extremely  unwilling  to  have  her  come  to  the 
school ;  her  father,  however,  had  almost  become  a 
Christian,  and  he  insisted  on  placing  Ramkoor 
under  our  care. 

"I  found  her,  one  day,  with  the  tears  rolling 
down  her  cheeks  as  she  sat  by  herself  reading  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  the  beloved 
disciple's  account  of  our  Lord's  suffering  and  death, 
and  when  I  clasped  her  to  my  heart,  she  told  me 
all  her  hopes  and  fears  and  struggles. 

" '  But  my  mother !'  said  she,  amid  her  tears ; 
'how  can  I  pacify  her  anger?  She  will  want  to 
kill  me  when  she  hears  that  I  have  joined  the 
Christians.' 

"  I  thought  this  so  dreadful  a  thing  to  say  of  her 
own  mother  that  I  quite  reproved  her  for  it,  but, 
alas  !  the  poor  child  knew  the  unregenerate  heathen 
nature  better  than  I  did. 

"  I  took  upon  myself  the  task  of  telling  Rarn- 
koor's  mother  that  her  daughter  wished  to  become 
a  Christian,  and  I  was  surprised  at  the  quiet  man 
ner  in  which  it  was  received.  'She  was  willing,' 


244  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

she  said,  (if  it  made  Ramkoor  happy;'  and  en 
couraged  by  this,  I  even  ventured  to  urge  her  to 
attend  the  Christian  services  herself. 

"I  did  not  quite  understand  the  expression  of 
her  face  as  she  thanked  me  and  said  that  she 
would  think  about  it,  nor  did  I  then  know  that 
some  one  had  already  told  her  that  Ramkoor  de 
spised  the  religion  of  her  family.  She  said  that 
she  would  come  and  see  her  daughter  and  assure 
her  of  her  consent,  and  I  went  home  with  a  very 
much  lightened  heart. 

"'My  mother  has  become  so  kind,' said  Ram 
koor,  running  to  me  one  day  with  a  beaming  face. 
'She  was  in  the  compound  for  a  few  moments  just 
now,  and  she  brought  me  a  present  of  sweetmeats, 
which  she  said  I  must  share  with  no  one,  as  she 
made  them  entirely  for  me.  I  do  not  like  to  eat  them 
all  myself,  but  my  mother  would  not  be  denied  in 
what  she  called  her  parting  present.' 

"I  was  very  busy  at  the  time,  so  we  did  not 
think  much  about  it,  but  the  next  morning  Ram 
koor  was  taken  violently  ill,  and  your  grandfather 
said  at  once  that  the  symptoms  were  those  of 
poison. 

"A  horrible  suspicion  came  into  my  mind  as  I 
thought  of  the  sweetmeats,  and  when  your  grand- 


JAY  A  If  A\f>   RAMKOOR.  245 

father  had  heard  my  story,  ho  asked  me  to  bring 
him  what  was  left  of  the  preserves.  He  analyzed 
them,  and  soon  discovered  that  a  powerful  poison 
had  been  mixed  with  them.  He  sadly  returned  to 
hi.s  patient,  and  I  feared  from  what  he  said  that 
Kamkoor  must  die. 

"  He  scarcely  left  her  bedside  for  two  days  and 
nights,  and  at  last  God  answered  our  prayers. 
Ramkoor's  life  was  out  of  danger,  but,  alas !  the 
poor  child  would  never  look  upon  this  beautiful 
earth  again :  the  dreadful  poison  had  made  her 
quite  blind.  It  left  her  very  timid  and  nervous 
for  a  long  time,  and  she  spent  hours  in  weeping 
and  despondency. 

"It  was  a  long  time  before  Ramkoor  could  get 
»econciled  to  her  loss  of  sight,  but  at  length  a 
bright,  hopeful  Christian  spirit  was  given  to  her, 
and  the  blind  girl  became  the  sunbeam  of  our 
mission  school.  She  learned  to  do  many  things 
for  herself  and  others,  and  she  said  sweetly  that  as 
God  willed  it  so  she  would  be  patient  and  wait 
until  she  got  to  heaven  to  see." 

"And  what  did  that  wicked  woman  do,"  asked 
Sarah,  "  when  she  found  that  her  daughter  aidn't 
die?" 

"She  killed  herself  by  striking  her  head  against 


246  THE   W1LDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  stones/  was  the  reply.  "She  said  that  she 
would  not  live  under  such  disgrace  as  Ramkoor 
had  brought  upon  her,  and  soon  after  this  her 
husband  came  out  boldly  and  openly  as  a  Chris 
tian." 

"Well,"  said  Harry,  "I'm  glad  she  did  kill 
herself,  but  she  ought  to  have  been  hung." 

"I  wish  she  had  lived,"  said  Minnie,  "and 
been  a  Christian  too.  Wouldn't  that  have  been 
better,  grandmamma?" 

"Yes,  my  darling.  But  God  permitted  her  to 
die  this  dreadful  death  with  no  hope  in  it,  perhaps, 
as  a  warning  to  others.  Unbridled  anger  is  sure 
to  lead  us  farther  than  we  intend,  and  this  is  prob 
ably  the  cause  of  most  of  the  murders  that  are 
committed." 

When  the  children  had  left  the  room,  Sarah  lin 
gered  to  speak  to  Mrs.  Wildford.  But  she  seemed 
to  have  some  difficulty  in  beginning  what  she  had 
to  say.  Her  knitting-work,  a  very  soft,  pretty 
shawl  of  pure  white,  was  quite  completed,  and  she 
asked  very  timidly, 

"  Would  this  be  of  any  use,  ma'am,  for  the  mis 
sionaries?  I  wanted  to  do  something  ever  since 
Miss  Minnie  began  to  talk  to  me  of  what  you 
said,  though  I  believe  I  answered  her  short  at 


JAY  AH  AND  RAMKOOR.  247 

first,  and  I  thought  I'd  do  something  between- 
whiles,  and  perhaps  you'd  know  of  some  lady  that 
would  like  to  buy  it  and  have  the  money  go  to  the 
missionaries." 

"I  do  know  of  a  lady  who  would  like  it  very 
much,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford.  "Your  work, 
Sarah,  is  beautiful,  and  I  have  wanted  just  such  a 
shawl  as  this  for  some  time.  If  you  will  fix  a 
price  upon  it,  I  will  become  the  purchaser." 

But  this  Sarah  could  not  be  persuaded  to  do. 
It  was  not  worth  much,  she  said — anything  that 
Mrs.  Wildford  chose  to  give.  The  lady  finally 
named  a  price  herself  that  seemed  to  the  delighted 
girl  almost  excessive,  but  Mrs.  Wildford  assured 
her  that  it  was  only  a  fair  valuation. 

Sarah  departed  with  a  profusion  of  blushes  and 
thanks,  and  Mrs.  Wildford  rejoiced  over  this  un 
expected  fruit  from  her  missionary  narratives. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

A    STRANGE   JOURNEY. 

^  RE  }ou  ready  to  go  with  me  on  a  journey 
to    the     Mahableshwar    hills    to-night?" 
asked   grandmamma   as  the   party  seated 
themselves  in  evident  expectation. 
"I  am,"  replied  Harry,  "but  I  haven't  the  least 
idea  where  it  is." 

"What   is    that   queer    name,    grandmamma?" 
asked  Minnie — "  Marble —     Oh,  I  can't  say  it." 

"  Maha — blesh — war,"  repeated  Mrs.  Wildford  ; 
"  the  '  queer  name '  means  '  Mighty  God.'  Do  you 
remember  my  telling  you  how  much  water  fell  dur 
ing  the  year  at  the  Mahableshwar  hills  ?" 
"  Three  hundred  inches  !"  shouted  Harry. 
"Yes,"  replied  his  grandmamma,  "you  are  right, 
and  therefore  such  a  place  would  not  do  to  live  in 
during  the  rainy  season.  But  these  hills,  which 
are  a  part  of  the  Ghauts  mountains,  have  so  de 
lightful  a  climate  in  the  dry  season  that  invalids 
frequently  go  thei'e  to  be  refreshed  by  the  cool 

248 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  249 

breezes  and  pure  air,  and  a  worn-out  missionary  is 
quite  made  over  by  a  few  weeks'  stay  at  Maha- 
bleshwar.  When  I  was  ordered  there  by  the  phy 
sician,  I  had  two  little  ones  to  take  with  ine — your 
mamma,  then  about  a  year  old,  and  an  older  brother 
who  died  before  we  left  India.  Your  grandfather 
could  not  go  with  us,  but  he  had  promised  to  meet 
us  on  our  return  for  a  visit  to  the  caves  of  Elora, 
of  which  I  will  tell  you  when  we  come  to  them. 

"  I  had  been  kindly  invited  to  stay  at  the  house 
of  some  English  friends  who  lived  at  Mahablesh- 
war  during  the  dry  season,  and  before  we  started 
in  the  bundur-boat  that  took  us  to  the  station  on 
the  continent,  letters  were  written  to  engage  men 
to  meet  us  at  the  lauding.  From  this  place  we 
were  to  be  carried  up  to  the  mountain  in  a  palan 
quin,  and  a  set  of  bearers  consisting  of  twelve  men 
to  carry  the  palanquin,  and  a  mussal,  or  torch- 
bearer,  who  walks  before  and  lights  the  way.  were 
waiting  for  us." 

"But,  grandmamma,"  asked  Harry,  "does  it 
take  twelve  men  to  carry  one  palanquin?  I 
thought  you  said  that  four  men  could  carry  it." 

"Four  can  carry  it,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  in  going 
so  great  a  distance  six  men  carry  it  at  a  time,  three 
at  each  pole,  and  it  is  necessary  to  have  twelve  men 


250  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

to  rest  each  other.  When  we  landed  at  the  wharf, 
we  found  the  men  waiting  for  us,  and  your  dear 
grandfather,  having  established  his  wife  and  babies 
in  the  palanquin,  charged  the  men  to  be  very  care 
ful  of  such  precious  freight,  and  then  took  the  boat 
back  to  Bombay." 

"  But  weren't  you  frightened,  grandmamma,  to  be 
left  alone  with  all  these  queer  men  ?" 

"  I  believe  I  was,  at  first,  Minnie,  but  I  soon 
remembered  that  I  had  'a  sovereign  Protector/ 
'though  unseen,  yet  for  ever  at  hand.'  The 
bearers,  too,  had  good  faces,  and  they  were  dis 
posed  to  be  very  kind  to  Madam  Sahib  and  the 
babahloke." 

"  Is  that  what  they  called  the  children  ?"  asked 
Harry. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "and  they  gazed  curiously 
at  them  as  they  were  lifted  into  the  palanquin,  and 
said  to  each  other, '  How  white !'  Then  six  of  them 
took  up  the  palanquin  on  their  shoulders,  while  the 
others  trudged  along  beside  it,  and  the  mussal 
lighted  his  torch  and  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  procession." 

"  Why,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  in  astonish 
ment,  "  was  it  night  when  you  went  off  in  this 
funny  way  ?" 


A    STRAXGE  JOURNEY.  251 

"Yes,  my  little  girl;  night  was  considered  the 
best  time  for  the  journey,  because  we  did  not  have 
the  hot  sun  then.  We  started  at  about  five  o'clock, 
and  did  not  get  to  Mahableshwar  until  three  in  the 
morning.  And  now  I  want  Harry  to  find  the 
twenty-fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  and  read  the 
parable  of  the  ten  virgins." 

Wondering  very  much  what  this  had  to  do  with 
his  grandmamma's  journey,  Harry  did  as  he  was 
told. 

"You  see  there,"  said  Mrs.  Wild  ford,  "that 
mention  is  made  of  taking  oil  in  their  vessels 
to  feed  their  lamps.  I  have  very  little  doubt,  from 
this  description,  that  the  lamps  in  the  parable  were 
torches  like  the  one  that  was  carried  before  me  in 
going  to  Mahableshwar.  It  was  made  of  a  long 
piece  of  wood  with  metal  at  the  upper  end,  and 
cotton  cloth  wound  about  the  metal.  This  cloth 
was  dipped  in  cocoanut  oil,  and  then  lighted. 
When  the  light  grew  dim,  fresh  oil  was  poured  on 
the  cloth  from  the  vessels.  This  was  done  a 
number  of  times  during  the  journey." 

"What  did  the  vessels  look  like?"  asked 
Harry. 

"  Very  much  like  the  oil-cans  we  use  here,"  was 
the  reply — "  such  as  I  have  seen  in  the  country  for 


252  THE   WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

Kerosene  oil.  When  the  men  took  up  the  palan 
quin,  they  began  a  curious  sort  of  grunt,  while 
the  others  sang  in  cheery  tones  a  sweet  Hindoo 
melody." 

"  What  did  the  men  grunt  for  ?"  asked  Minnie. 
"  Was  it  because  you  and  mamma  and  her  little 
brother  were  so  heavy?" 

"No,"  replied  her  grandmother,  with  a  smile; 
"I  do  not  think  that  our  weight  troubled  them  at 
all :  they  were  used  to  carrying  palanquins  with 
people  in  them.  This  grunting  was  a  way  they 
had.  It  seemed  to  help  them  on. 

"I  think,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "that  I 
never  shall  forget  that  night  journey  up  the  Ghauts 
mountains.  Although  so  many  years  have  passed, 
it  seems  to  me  now  as  fresh  as  if  it  had  happened 
last  summer.  There  was  the  magnificent  scenery 
of  the  Ghauts,  over  which  the  moon  poured  down 
•  her  soft,  mellow  light,  and  the  moon  and  the  stars 
seem  much  larger  and  brighter  in  India  than  they 
do  here ;  the  winding  road  that  looked  in  some 
places  narrow  and  dangerous  enough ;  those  wild, 
half-naked  figures  around  me;  the  torch,  with  its 
scriptural  associations;  the  strange  singing  in  that 
foreign  language  that  lulled  me  into  a  half  sleep, 
from  which  I  would  start  with  the  belief  that  I  was 


A  STRAXGE  JOUKXEY.  253 

still  dreaming,  and  through  it  all  the  cool,  delicious 
breath  of  the  night  air  that  grew  purer  and  sweeter 
as  we  ascended. 

"  I  kept  the  palanquin  open  a  great  part  of  the 
time  that  I  might  not  lose  any  view  of  the  scenery, 
for  probably  I  would  not  have  another  such  oppor 
tunity  in  my  lifetime.  When  we  reached  the  foot 
of  the  mountains,  there  they  were  towering  in  huge 
masses  of  rock,  in  some  places  five  thousand  feet, 
above  our  heads,  and  as  they  appeared  to  stretch 
away  in  one  unbroken  chain,  I  could  not  see  how 
we  were  ever  to  get  up. 

"  When  we  came  a  little  nearer,  though,  to  this 
wall  of  stone,  I  could  perceive  a  narrow  opening, 
and  my  bearers  seemed  to  know  perfectly  what 
they  were  about,  for  they  made  a  sudden  turn  just 
at  the  right  place,  and  a  fresh  four  taking  the 
palanquin,  they  began  the  ascent  with  sure  feet,  and 
never  once  slipped  or  stumbled.  I  talked  with 
them  from  time  to  time,  and  found  them  always 
ready  to  answer  pleasantly.  Then  I  would  fall 
asleep,  to  be  awakened,  perhaps,  by  the  gurgling  of 
a  waterfall.  Some  of  these  cascades  in  the  moun 
tains  glistened  in  the  moonlight  like  veils  of  silver 
lace  against  the  sombre  background. 

"So  tie  night  wore  on.     The  children,  heavy 


254  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

with  sleep,  never  woke  nor  stirred  once.  Up  we 
wound  along  the  narrow  path  to  the  very  top  of 
the  mountain,  and  then  I  was  awakened  from  a 
doze  by  the  sudden  setting  down  of  the  palanquin 
and  an  animated  dispute  among  my  attendants  as 
to  the  situation  of  the  house  to  which  I  was  to  be 
taken. 

"  I  could  not  direct  them,  as  I  had  never  been 
there,  and  part  of  the  men  started  off  on  a  run  to 
inquire  at  the  nearest  dwelling,  while  the  others 
remained  with  me. 

"'Now,'  said  I  to  this  group,  as  I  began  to 
think  that  it  was  not  pleasant  to  be  standing  quite 
still  in  so  wild  and  lonely  a  spot,  '  if  a  tiger  should 
rush  out  upon  us,  you  would  run  away  and  leave 
me  and  the  children  for  him  to  make  a  meal  of?' 

" f  Oh  no,'  they  assured  me ;  '  we  would  on  no 
account  leave  the  madam  sahib  and  the  babahloke. 
If  they  did  such  a  thing  as  that,  no  one  would 
employ  them  again.' " 

"And  /should  think,"  said  Harry,  laughing  at 
this  idea,  "  that  if  they  stayed  to  be  eaten  up  by  a 
tiger,  no  one  would  employ  them  again  either." 

"  The  same  thought  entered  my  mind,"  replied 
his  grandmamma,  "and  I  was  not  comforted  by 
these  professions  half  so  much  as  I  was  by  the 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  255 

assurance  that  there  were  no  tigers  there  and  the 
knowledge  that  if  there  were  our  torch  would 
frighten  them  away. 

"At  length  the  scouting-party  returned  with 
the  report  that  the  house  we  wanted  was  only 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  on.  So  with 
a  fresh  series  of  grunts  the  bearers  took  our  palan 
quin  up  and  started  off  again,  and  it  seemed  a  very 
short  time  before  we  reached  the  pretty  bungalow, 
where  a  bright  light  proclaimed  that  my  friends 
were  watching  for  me.  The  men  were  paid  and 
dismissed,  and  I  was  soon  resting  with  great  satis 
faction  in  a  comfortable  bed  that  I  did  leave  until 
far  into  the  next  day. 

"As  soon  as  I  could  enjoy  it  I  was  taken  to  see 
a  famous  ravine  which  it  made  me  quite  di/zy  to 
look  at.  It  was  about  half  a  mile  in  length  and 
nearly  a  quarter  wide,  but  it  was  impossible  to 
guess  the  depth.  The  rocky  sides  were  almost 
perpendicular,  and  here  and  there  a  small  ill- 
shapcd  tree  had  forced  its  way  through  a  crevice 
in  the  rock.  The  bottom  of  the  ravine  was  full  of 
trees,  but  it  was  so  deep  that  they  looked  like  small 
bushes,  and  my  friends  were  not  willing  to  go 
within  several  yards  of  the  edge  of  this  dreadful 
precipice." 


256  THE   WJLDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"There  must  have  been  lots  of  snakes  and  things 
at  the  bottom."  said  Harry. 

"  Any  one  who  reached  the  bottom  would  not 
be  much  troubled  by  anything  there,"  continued 
Mrs.  Wildford,  "as  no  life  could  possibly  be  left 
after  that  fall.  I  saw  a  number  of  apes  with  black 
faces  during  this  drive,  and  they  grinned  at  us  as 
they  sprang  from  branch  to  branch  in  a  very  ridic 
ulous  manner.  The  Hindoos  consider  them  sacred, 
and  one  of  their  gods  has  the  face  of  an  ape. 

"  I  spent  five  weeks  with  my  kind  friends  in 
their  mountain  retreat,  and  they  were  weeks  of 
constant  enjoyment.  The  frequent  drives  and 
health-giving  air  did  wonders  for  me,  and  I  had 
not  felt  so  well  since  my  arrival  in  India  as  when 
your  grandfather  came  to  take  me  from  Maha- 
bleshwar." 

"Then  you  went  somewhere  else,  didn't  you, 
grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply ;  "  we  went  to  Elora  before 
we  returned  to  Bombay,  and  having  described 
Elephanta  and  Thanheri,  I  will  try  to  give  you 
some  more  wonderful  caves.  We  had  to  make  the 
journey  there  from  Ahmednuggur  on  purpose,  but 
both  your  grandfather  and  I  needed  the  change, 
and  we  might  not  ever  be  so  far  on  the  way  again. 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  257 

We  found  plenty  of  poor  creatures  on  the  road  to 
whom  we  spoke  of  the  way  of  salvation,  and  in 
some  cases  with  great  encouragement.  We  had 
wished  for  a  long  time  to  meet  with  some  Bhcels, 
but  they  are  only  found  among  the  mountains  or 
in  the  villages  near  mountains." 

"Are  they  like  tigers?"  asked  Minnie. 

"  In  some  respects  I  am  afraid  they  are,"  re 
plied  her  grandmamma.  "They  are  really  human 
beings,  but  they  are  a  caste  by  themselves,  and  their 
profession  is  that  of  robbers.  They  live  in  tribes, 
each  one  of  which  has  its  chief,  and  their  dwellings 
are  wretched  huts  that  form  little  villages  where 
few  honest  people  ever  venture  to  go.  At  night 
a  party  of  them  will  sally  forth  into  a  town  or  vil 
lage,  while  the  inhabitants  are  sleeping,  steal  the 
cattle  and  whatever  else  they  can  lay  their  hands 
on,  and  be  off  again  to  the  mountain  or  jungle 
before  any  one  really  knows  what  has  been  done. 

"  These  Bheels  are  a  very  curious  people,  and  it 
is  thought  they  were  the  earliest  inhabitants  of 
India.  They  think  so  themselves,  and  they  are  in 
consequence  very  haughty  and  independent,  caring 
neither  for  the  Hindoos  nor  the  Europeans.  They 
are  often  employed  as  guides  through  dangerous 

places,  for   they  can   bear  any  amount  of  fatigue, 
17 


258  THE    WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

and  they  know  all  the  mountain-paths  and  the 
trackless  jungles  so  well  that  they  never  make 
a  mistake.  They  do  not  consider  it  any  disgrace 
to  be  robbers,  and  they  make  no  secret  of  their 
occupation. 

"The  first  Bheels  whom  we  saw  were  sitting 
under  a  tree  near  a  poor  little  village,  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows  that  looked  very  sharp  and  dan 
gerous.  The  men  wore  very  little  clothing,  and 
they  were  darker  and  stronger-looking  than  any 
of  the  other  people  we  had  seen  in  India. 

"  Your  grandfather  went  up  and  spoke  to  them, 
and  they  answered  him  very  civilly.  They  said 
that  they  were  thieves,  just  as  they  might  have 
said  that  they  were  farmers,  and  added  that  they 
were  friends  of  the  peishwar  or  governor  of  the 
nearest  town.  They  are  very  apt  to  demand 
tribute  or  pay-money  from  travelers,  but  they  said, 
with  a  smile,  that  they  did  not  take  any  from  the 
Padre  Sahibs. 

" '  But  I  am  very  sorry  that  you  take  it  at  all,' 
replied  the  missionary ;  '  do  you  not  know  that  it  is 
wrong,  as  well  as  disgraceful,  to  steal?' 

"They  said  that  they  did  not  think  it  could  be 
wrong  or  they  would  not  have  been  born  in  that 
caste.  Why  did  God  place  them  there  where  they 


1  STRANOE  JOURNEY.  259 

must  steal  it'  it  was  wrong  to  do  so?  It  was  their 
fate  to  be  robbers,  and  therefore  it  was  not  wrong 
for  them. 

"They  listened  respectfully  to  all  that  your 
grandfather  said,  but  I  ana  afraid  it  made  very 
little  impression  on  them.  This  idea  of  fatality  is 
one  of  the  hardest  things  to  overcome  that  the 
missionary  finds  in  India.  It  is  difficult  to  con 
vince  these  poor  people  that  man  is  really  a  free 
agent. 

"  We  left  the  Bheels  with  sad  hearts,  and  trav 
eled  on  through  dust  and  heat  as  fast  as  the  warm 
Indian  sun  would  let  us.  '  We,'  in  this  case,  means 
quite  a  party.  I  still  had  my  palanquin  and  bear 
ers,  while  your  grandfather  had  his  bullock-cart  and 
godswallah.  We  had  quite  a  journey  before  us, 
and  Satara  was  the  first  place  of  any  importance 
at  which  we  stopped.  Here  we  found  Christian 
friends  and  a  flourishing  mission  and  school. 

"  Then  we  went  on  to  Seroor,  and  I  remember 
this  part  of  the  journey  as  being  particularly  hard. 
The  roads  were  very  rough,  and  the  palanquin 
was  shaken  from  side  to  side.  Your  mamma  did 
not  like  it  at  all,  and  she  cried  so  much  that  the 
bearers  seemed  quite  troubled  as  to  what  was  to  be 
done  with  her." 


260  THE   WtLDFORDS  IN 

"  They  would  have  thrown  her  into  the  river,  I 
suppose  ?"  said  Harry. 

"Scarcely  that,  I  think,  but  they  would  have 
been  better  satisfied  had  we  stopped  to  make  an 
offering  to  one  of  the  gods.  We  found  Seroor 
quite  a  pleasant  place,  with  some  fine  houses  and 
gardens.  These  belong  to  the  British  officers,  as  it 
is  an  English  military  station,  and  we  received  from 
them  a  great  deal  of  kind  attention. 

"  From  Seroor  we  went  to  Ahmednuggur,  and 
here  we  spent  two  or  three  days.  We  had  mission 
ary  friends  here  whom  we  had  known  in  America, 
and  they  had  kindly  promised  to  take  charge  of  the 
children  while  we  visited  Elora. 

"Ahmednuggur  is  a  strongly-fortified  city,  and 
its  name  means,  fortress  of  Ahmed.  It  belonged, 
at  one  time,  to  the  Mohammedans,  and  one  of 
their  rulers,  Ahmed-Nizam-Shah,  named  it  after 
himself.  The  Mahrattas  took  it  from  the  Moham 
medans,  and  in  1803  the  English,  under  General 
Wellesley  (afterward  the  duke  of  Wellington), 
took  it  from  the  Mahrattas.  The  fortress  and  the 
ditch  around  it,  cost  nine  lacs  of  rupees,  which  is 
nearly  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

"  The  town  of  Ahmednuggur  is  rather  more  than 
half  a  mile  from  the  fort,  and,  like  many  other 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  261 

Indian  towns  and  villages,  it  has  a  natural  wall  of 
prickly  pear,  which  grows  over  five  yards  lii^-h 
and  is  very  thick  and  close.  Both  stem  and  leaf 
are  full  of  long,  sharp  thorns,  and  when  these  are 
broken  off,  a  liquid  flows  out  that  causes  severe 
inflammation  where  the  thorns  scratch.  So  that 
you  see  a  hedge  of  prickly  pear  is  a  strong  protec 
tion  against  thieves  or  enemies  of  any  kind.  The 
goats  do  not  seem  to  mind  it,  for  we  often  saw  them 
stretching  up  on  their  hind  legs  to  get  at  the 
tenderest  parts  of  the  plants,  which  they  succeed 
ed  in  chewing  in  spite  of  the  thorns  and  milk, 
but  all  the  other  animals  keep  at  a  respectful 
distance. 

"  The  Emperor  Arungzebe,  the  most  famous  of 
Indian  rulers,  died  at  Ahmednuggur  in  1707.  He 
had  lived  to  be  an  old  man  of  ninety.  A  mauso 
leum,  or  tomb,  is  shown  where  the  emperor's  heart 
is  said  to  have  been  placed  in  an  urn ;  this  mauso 
leum  has  a  tower  at  each  end,  and  it  is  lighted  up 
day  and  night,  while  perfumes  are  kept  burning 
constantly.  Twenty-four  fakirs,  or  holy  men, 
watch  the  lamps  and  pray  for  the  soul  of  Arung- 
jwbe." 

"Does  that  do  him  any  good,  grandmamma?'* 
asked  Harry. 


262  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"No,  my  dear  child:  prayers  for  the  dead  are 
useless;  rather  should  our  time  and  money  be 
spent  in  doing  good  to  the  living.  Arungzebe  was 
a  Mohammedan,  and  this,  it  seems,  is  one  of  their 
superstitions. 

"After  leaving  the  mausoleum,  we  went  to  the 
feroka-bagh — which  means  the  emperor's  garden — 
and  this  we  found  very  beautiful.  But  the  grounds 
bid  been  neglected,  and  the  place  looked  wild  and 
desolate. 

"  We  were  taken  all  through  the  fortress,  but  I 
do  not  think  a  description  of  the  guns  and  batteries 
and  brass  mortars  would  interest  my  audience ;  I 
will  therefore  only  say  that  it  is  the  strongest  fort 
ress  in  the  Deccan,  or  table-land  of  India,  and  that 
very  hard  battles  must  have  been  fought  before  it 
could  be  taken  from  any  party  holding  it. 

"  We  also  visited  the  ruins  of  a  palace  that  must 
have  been  very  grand  in  the  days  of  its  glory,  and 
there  are  still  fine  paintings  in  a  minaret,  or  Mo 
hammedan  chapel,  that  joins  it. 

"  We  saw  many  other  things  during  our  stay  that 
were  very  interesting  to  us,  not  the  least  of  which 
were  the  mission  church  and  schools.  Our  mission 
ary  friends  had  given  us  a  warm  welcome,  and  they 
eent  us  on  our  way  with  many  kind  wishes.  We 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  263 

left  Ahmednuggur  with  a  very  pleasant  impression 
of  the  place  and  people. 

"We  then  passed  a  number  of  forljrn  villages, 
where  the  wretched  inhabitants  were  very  much 
oppressed  by  their  rulers,  and  their  poor  little 
crops  of  rice  were  often  -ei/ed  by  the  wicked  men 
who  went  about  gathering  the  taxes.  We  often 
saw  children  gleaning  in  the  rice-fields,  and  the 
little  creatures  would  carefully  pick  tip  every  scat 
tered  grain,  for  the  rice  had  been  so  closely  gathered 
that  single  grains  dropped  here  and  there  were 
generally  all  that  they  could  find. 

"Sometimes  patches  of  sugar-cane  were  seen, 
and  cotton  and  indigo  are  also  raised  in  India. 
Immense  fields  of  poppies  are  found  in  some 
regions,  very  bright  and  beautiful  in  coloring,  but 
the  intoxicating  drug,  opium,  is  made  from  them, 
and  having  seen  so  much  harm  done  by  it,  I  al 
ways  felt  sorry  to  come  upon  a  field  of  poppies. 

"  We  had  a  very  pleasant  visit  from  a  Brahmin 
at  our  first  stopping-place.  He  was  the  most  agree 
able  specimen  of  his  class  that  we  had  yet  seen. 
Very  handsome  and  dignified,  his  manners  were 
the  perfection  of  courtesy  and  kindness,  and  he 
really  seemed  unhappy  t<  find  that  he  could  do 
nothing  for  us. 


264  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"He  spent  a  couple  of  hours  talking  with  us 
and  telling  us  of  the  wretched  condition  of  his 
people  under  the  native  rulers.  'They  would 
take/  he  said,  bitterly,  '  a  man's  skin  from  off  his 
back  on  the  least  shadow  of  an  excuse,  and  the 
people  would  not  cultivate  the  land  beyond  what 
was  barely  necessary  to  support  their  lives,  because 
the  peishwar's  officers  would  seize  everything  they 
could  raise.  The  British/  he  added,  '  were  honest 
people,  though  they  had  conquered  the  country, 
and  they  always  paid  for  what  they  got.' 

"  The  poor  Brahmin  seemed  to  think  this  a  very 
high  order  of  merit  indeed.  He  warned  us  against 
the  Bheels,  who,  he  said,  were  very  numerous  all 
the  way  that  we  must  take  to  Elora.  The  people 
in  authority,  instead  of  punishing  them,  often  used 
them  against  their  enemies,  and  even  received  a 
regular  tribute  from  the  Bheels,  who  were  in  con 
sequence  allowed  to  rob  as  they  pleased. 

"  This  was  dreadful  indeed,  and  our  poor  bearers 
groaned  at  the  very  name  of  Bheel,  but  we  told  the 
Brahmin,  to  his  great  surprise,  that  we  were  not 
afraid  of  them. 

"  *  Their  arrows  are  poisoned/  said  he,  sig 
nificantly. 

"  '  I  have  a  staunch  weapon  here,"  replied  your 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  265 

grandfather,  drawing  forth  his  Mahratta  Bible, 
'that  I  have  never  known  to  fail.' 

"'Yes,'  said  the  Brahmin  as  he  turned  over 
the  leaves,  'I  have  sometimes  seen  your  Shasters, 
and  I  know  that  the)7  contain  much  that  is  good 
and  true,  but  I  do  not  think  the  Bheels  would 
listen.' 

"'Will  you  listen?'  asked  the  missionary,  and, 
like  Philip  with  the  eunuch,  'he  opened  his  mouth 
and  began  at  the  same  scripture  and  preached 
unto  him  Jesus.' 

'"It  is  very  beautiful,  all  that  you  fay,'  replied 
the  Brahmin,  'but  I  should  not  like  to  leave  the 
religion  of  my  fathers.  It  is  not  what  it  used  to 
be,  though,'  he  added,  sadly,  '  for  many  of  the 
Brahmins  forget  their  high  calling  and  only  think 
of  what  they  can  get  from  the  people.  I  have 
seen  them  about  here  even  making  fires  in  the 
temples  to  cook  their  food,  and  they  will  eat  and 
sleep,  sleep  and  eat,  until  they  are  scarcely  better 
than  beasts.' 

"  His  fine  countenance  was  overcast  with  sorrow, 
for  he  felt  it  as  deeply  as  we  should  feel  anv  irrev- 
ence  in  our  Christian  temples,  and  we  spared  no 
efforts  in  that  short  time  to  show  him  the  better 
way.  He  took  the  Bible  and  other  books  that 


266  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

your  grandfather  offered  him  with  apparent  grati 
tude,  and  promised  to  study  them  carefully. 

"Our  Brahmin  friend  sent  his  servant  the  next 
morning  to  accompany  us  out  of  the  village,  and 
on  parting  with  him  we  asked  if  there  was  anything 
we  could  do  for  him.  His  face  brightened  as  he 
gave  us  to  understand  that  he  would  he  perfectly 
happy  if  we  could  give  him  some  medicine." 

"  Was  he  sick  ?"  asked  Harry. 

"He  did  not  appear  to  be,"  was  the  reply,  "but 
he  seemed  to  have  a  passion  for  Epsom  salts  and 
blue  pills." 

"  Oh,"  said  Minnie,  with  a  most  expressive  face, 
"  I  wish  he  could  have  taken  mine  for  me  when  I 
was  sick  !  Did  he  like  castor  oil  too?" 

"  Nothing  came  amiss,  I  believe,  in  the  shape 
of  drugs.  I  think  I  have  told  you  that  the  Hin 
doos  have  an  unbounded  confidence  in  European 
remedies,  and  they  look  upon  those  of  the  Americans 
in  the  same  light.  We  were  glad  that  we  were  able 
to  gratify  the  man,  and  having  supplied  his  wants 
from  a  portable  chest  that  always  accompanied  us 
in  our  travels,  we  received  his  parting  salaam  and 
went  on  our  way  to  Yoka. 

"  This  was  more  than  a  day's  journey  from  our 
last  stopping-place,  and  when  we  reached  the  sta- 


A   STRANGE  JOURNEY.  267 

tion  where  we  were  to  spend  the  night,  we  found 
that  it  bore  a  very  bad  character  for  safety.  There 
were  Bheels  all  around,  and  we  were  told  that 
several  murders  had  lately  been  committed  by 
them. 

"  '  There  !'  exclaimed  our  men,  suddenly  depos 
iting  me  with  the  palanquin  on  the  ground  ;  '  what 
are  we  to  do  now?  Do  you  see  that  band  of 
Xeshoda  over  there?' 

" '  Xeshoda '  is  another  name  for  robbers ;  it 
means  a  horrid  or  bad  action. 

u  We  certainly  did  see  them,  and  they  were  not 
at  all  a  pleasant-looking  party.  There  must  have 
been  fifty  of  them,  fully  armed,  and  with  such  wild, 
fierce  faces  that  I  shuddered  as  I  peeped  at  them 
from  my  palanquin.  Truly  thankful  did  I  feel 
that  the  babahloke  were  safe  at  Ahmednuggur. 

"Your  grandfather  got  out  of  the  bullock  cart, 
and  as  the  godswallah  did  not  seem  disposed  to  run 
away,  he  ordered  him  to  remain  where  he  was,  and 
the  bearers  all  loudly  declared  their  readiness  to 
protect  Madam  Sahib.  They  could  not  very  well 
get  away  from  the  Bheels  now,  and  they  concluded 
to  make  the  best  of  it. 

" '  But  oh,  Padre  Sahib/  they  entreated  as  they 
saw  the  missionary  advan  ^ing  toward  the  robbers, 


268  THE   W1LDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

Bible  in  hand,  'do  not  try  to  talk  to  these  dreadful 
fellows!  They  will  hang  you  up  by  the  heels,  and 
your  servants  all  in  a  row.' 

"  They  broke  forth  into  a  series  of  howls  at  the 
prospect,  but  your  grandfather,  after  whispering  a 
few  words  of  comfort  to  me,  went  steadily  on. 

"He  found  the  robbers  gathered  around  their 
chief,  who  was  lounging  under  a  tree  directly  in 
the  way  that  we  should  have  to  pass. 

" '  I  have  a  message  for  you/  said  the  missionary 
to  the  chief;  'are  you  willing  to  hear  it?' 

"The  robber  stared  at  him  in  surprise,  while  his 
men  only  waited  for  their  ruler's  orders  to  make  an 
attack  on  the  stranger.  This  was  so  different  from 
the  usual  conduct  of  travelers,  who  always  fled  in 
terror  at  the  sight  of  Bheels,  that  the  chief  felt 
curious  to  know  what  his  visitor  had  to  say.  Your 
grandfather  stood  there  under  the  tree,  and  read 
such  portions  of  God's  word  as  he  thought  best 
suited  to  his  audience,  and  no  one  interrupted  him 
or  even  stirred  during  the  reading.  The  chief  even 
told  him  to  go  on  when  he  paused  to  see  how  his 
hearers  were  taking  it.  He  heard  an  occasional 
murmur  as  to  the  beauty  of  the  Bible  narratives, 
but  when  he  had  finished  reading,  the  hardest  part 
of  his  task  was  befo"e  him ;  he  must  apply  those 


A   STRANGE  JOURSEY.  269 

divine  precepts  to  the  lives  of  these  wicked  men 
and  reason  with  them  on  their  sins. 

"  He  spoke  with  the  boldness  and  zeal  of  an 
apostle,  and  he  was  listened  to  respectfully. 

"'That  is  all  very  good  for  Europeans/  replied 
the  Bheel,  'but  it  will  not  do  for  us.  We  were 
born  in  this  caste;  our  fathers  and  grandfathers 
were  robbers  before  us,  and  so  will  our  children 
and  grandchildren  be  after  us.  You  are  a  good 
man,  and  we  will  not  harm  you,  but  who  are  all 
these  people  with  you  ?' 

"  The  missionary  explained  that  they  were  his 
wife  and  servants,  and  the  robber  said  that  all 
should  be  safe  for  the  time  of  their  stay. 

"The  dhak  men  (our  bearers)  prostrated  them 
selves  before  the  Padre  Sahib,  as  though  he  had 
been  a  being  of  another  sphere,  when  they  heard 
of  his  success,  and  from  that  time  forth  their  ven 
eration  for  him  was  very  much  increased. 

"Our  lodgings,  that  night,  in  the  traveler's  rest, 
were  not  very  comfortable,  but  we  felt  that  they 
were  safe,  for  when  these  robbers  once  give  a 
promise,  they  can  be  implicitly  trusted. 

"  The  chief  had  sent  two  of  his  band  to  keep 
guard  over  us  on  the  outside  of  the  building,  and 
your  grandfather,  not  knowing  this,  stolt  out  quietly 


270  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

soon  after  midnight  to  see  if  he  could  find  some 
cool  air.  As  he  walked  around  to  the  other  side 
of  the  house  he  was  suddenly  seized  by  a  Bheel, 
who  cried  out : 

"  '  AVhat  business  have  you  here  ?' 

"  Your  grandfather  tried  to  explain  matters,  and 
there  was  such  a  noise  that  the  dhak  men  sleeping 
on  the  verandah  were  awakened,  and  the)'  suc 
ceeded  in  making  the  Bheel  understand  that  he 
had  made  quite  a  mistake. 

"  He  fell  down  on  the  ground  and  begged  your 
grandfather  to  put  his  foot  on  his  neck  and  kill 
him.  He  would  not  get  up  until  the  Padre  Sahib 
fairly  ran  away  into  the  house,  and  then  it  took  the 
other  Bheel  quite  a  long  time  to  pacify  him." 

"  Why,  they  were  first-rate  fellows,  after  all, 
grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  "except  their  being 
thieves." 

"  This  was  a  slight  flaw  in  their  character,"  re 
plied  his  grandmamma.  "  Poor  fellows  !  it  really 
seemed  as  though  they  were  capable  of  better 
things.  The  missionary  became  a  great  favorite 
with  them,  for  the  next  morning  before  we  started 
on  our  journey  a  Bheel  was  brought  in  by  his  com 
panions  suffering  greatly  from  a  gunshot  wound  in 
his  arm.  Your  grandfather  succeeded  in  extract- 


A  STRANGE  JOURNEY.  271 

ing  the  shot,  and  dressed  the  wound,  so  that  the 
man  felt  comparatively  comfortable.  He  was  very 
grateful,  and  professed  his  readiness  to  do  anything 
for  the  kind  Padre  Sahib.  The  missionary  did  not 
lose  this  opportunity  of  speaking  of  the  great  Phy 
sician  of  souls,  and  it  may  be  that  the  poor  be 
nighted  mind  retained  some  of  the  truths  thus  for 
the  first  time  presented. 

"  The  robbers  seemed  almost  sorry  to  part  with 
us,  and  I  was  very  much  amused  at  their  doubtful 
compliment.  One  of  the  band  was  sent  to  protect 
us  on  our  journey  and  during  our  stay  at  Elora 
from  the  attacks  of  other  Bheels,  and  when  we  con 
sidered  his  character  and  calling,  he  seemed  a  very 
comical  sort  of  protector. 

"The  dhak  men,  however,  assured  us  that  we 
were  in  luck  :  a  Bheel  for  a  guide  was  equal  to  a 
certificate  of  our  safe  arrival  ;  and  they  trudged 
cheerfully  on  with  me  and  the  palanquin,  while 
the  Bheel  kept  up  with  the  bullock  cart,  A  walk 
of  a  hundred  or  even  two  hundred  miles  through  a 
thick  jungle  is  nothing  to  these  men ;  they 
to  be  proof  against  all  sorts  of  fatigue. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE   CAVES   OF  EL  OR  A. 

sPent  the  next  night  at  Toka,  which  we 
found  a  very  nice,  clean  little  town  situated 
on  the  Godavery  River.  There  we  took  up 
our  quarters  in  a  fine  large  house  for  the 
accommodation  of  travelers.  It  had  plenty  of 
covered  verandahs,  and  we  were  more  comfortable 
than  we  had  been  at  any  place  during  our  journey. 
"  There  is  a  very  handsome  stone  pagoda  at 
Toka,  and  a  long  flight  of  stone  steps  leading  down 
to  the  river. 

"The  next  morning  I  did  not  feel  well  enough 
to  travel,  and  we  were  obliged  to  wait  for  another 
day.  Having  made  me  as  comfortable  as  possible, 
your  grandfather  went  out  with  the  Bheel  to  ex 
plore  the  place,  and  he  came  very  near  having  an 
adventure  with  a  tiger." 

"  Oh,"  said  Harry,  in  great  excitement,  "  please 
tell  us  all  about  it,  grandmamma." 

"I  will  tell  the  tale  as  it  was  told  to  me,"  re 
plied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  but  do  not  expect  too  much 
272 


THE  CAVES  OF  ELORA.  273 

or  you  will  be  disappointed.  When  the  missionary 
and  his  guide  got  to  the  end  of  the  town,  they 
found  a  crowd  of  people  gathered  there,  and  in 
answer  to  their  inquiries  they  were  told  that  there 
was  a  tiger  in  a  field  not  far  off.  The  Bheel  said 
that  he  was  not  afraid  to  go  to  him  and  shoot  him, 
and  having  borrowed  a  gun  from  a  man,  he  went 
to  attack  the  tiger." 

"  I  should  not  think  any  one  would  have  wanted 
to  lend  a  gun  to  a  thief,"  said  Minnie. 

"They  were  probably  glad  to  have  a  tiger  killed 
on  any  terms,"  was  the  reply.  "  When  they  came 
to  the  field,  sure  enough,  there  was  a  tiger  walking 
across  the  end  of  it,  and  people,  women  and  all, 
were  climbing  up  into  the  trees  to  look  at  him. 
They  seemed  very  glad  to  see  the  Bheel  and  his 
gun,  for  no  one  had  dared  to  attack  the  dangerous 
animal. 

"  The  robber  got  over  the  wall  that  fenced  off 
the  field  from  the  road,  and  began  to  walk  toward 
the  tiger.  The  people  were  all  very  much  excited 
now,  and  watched  for  the  spring  that  the  animal 
would  be  sure  to  make  when  he  saw  the  Bheel. 
The  man  stood  still  and  looked  at  him  for  a  few 
moments,  flourishing  his  gun  before  him,  and  then 
walked  on.  It  seemed  very  daring  to  go  so  near 

18 


274  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

the  tiger,  and  every  one  wondered  that  the  anima. 
did  not  attack  him. 

"  Presently  the  man  passed  so  close  to  the  tiger 
that  he  almost  brushed  against  him,  but  still  noth 
ing  came  of  it.  The  tiger  seemed  to  be  thinking 
of  his  own  affairs,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  Bheel 
came  back  to  your  grandfather  laughing.  He  had 
discovered  that  the  dangerous  animal  was  stone- 
blind,  and  he  was,  moreover,  perfectly  tame! 

"He  had  strayed  off  from  a  neighboring  com 
pound,  and  his  owner  soon  appeared  in  quest  of 
him.  We  learned  that  he  was  quite  a  pet  in  the 
family,  having  been  captured  when  very  young." 

"  I  am  glad  that  Wag  isn't  a  tiger,"  said  Min 
nie  as  she  patted  his  shaggy  back.  "  I  should  be 
afraid  of  him,  even  if  he  was  blind." 

"  Our  next  day's  journey,"  continued  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford,  "  was  to  Shahpoor,  which  means  Place  of 
Xings,  but  it  was  the  last  place  in  which  we 
would  have  expected  to  find  such  gentlemen. 
About  thirty  forlorn  little  huts  composed  the 
town,  and  the  inhabitants  came  forth  to  beg  of 
us,  suffering  from  leprosy  and  other  dreadful  dis 
eases,  and  with  scarcely  any  clothing  to  cover  their 
nakedness. 

"  We    had    to   cross   the  Godavery   River  in    a 


THE  CAVES  OF  ELORA.  2<o 

clumsy  boat,  and  landed  in  a  thick  jungle.  In 
going  through  this  we  mot  parties  of  Bheels  con 
tinually.  Our  robber-guide,  however,  seemed  to 
give  us  an  air  of  respectability  in  their  eyes,  for 
none  of  them  offered  to  molest  us,  but  we  were  not 
at  all  sorry  to  get  out  of  the  jungle,  which  appeared 
to  afford  them  a  favorite  residence. 

"  The  country  was  quite  hilly  now,  and  we  found 
that  we  were  approaching  the  wonderful  mountain 
that  used  to  be  so  much  frequented  as  a  shrine  by 
faithful  Hindoos.  Not  far  from  Elora  we  passed  a 
Mussulman  village  that  had  a  strong  stone  wall 
around  it  and  a  number  of  cultivated  fields.  A 
guard  of  Arabs  were  stationed  at  the  gateway,  and 
their  flowing  robes  and  dignified  bearing  had  quite 
a  picturesque  effect. 

"  Near  Elora  the  road  is  very  pleasantly  shaded 
by  trees,  and  the  pretty  little  village  itself  is  quite 
buried  in  them.  It  is  considered  a  very  holy  place, 
and  the  inhabitants  are  mostly  of  the  Brahmin 
caste. 

"  The  mountain,  with  its  wonderful  temples,  is 
about  a  mile  from  the  village,  and  before  going  on 
we  stopped  to  rest  in  a  handsome  pagoda.  It  was 
beautifully  situated,  and  close  by  was  the  finest 
tank  we  had  seen  in  India.  There  was  a  great 


276  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

deal  of  work  on  it,  the  stone  was  so  beautifully 
cut  and  carved,  and  the  color  was  of  a  cheerful 
blue-gray. 

"Now,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "in  order  to 
get  some  idea  of  the  wonders  I  am  about  to  de 
scribe  to  you,  you  must  try  to  imagine  what  it 
would  be  to  take  a  solid  mountain,  as  the  sculptor 
does  a  block  of  marble,  and  hew  it  into  temples 
and  figures,  for  this  is  just  what  has  been  done 
with  Elora. 

"  As  we  approached  the  place  we  were  struck 
with  the  stillness  all  about  it;  not  a  human  being 
was  visible,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  sound  nor 
sign  of  life.  The  scenery  is  most  beautiful  and 
romantic,  and  those  wonderful  caves  and  temples 
are  the  monuments  of  a  people  whose  very  nation 
and  age  are  unknown. 

"  There  are  about  a  dozen  temples  altogether  that 
extend  over  a  mile  along  the  mountains,  and  the 
largest  and  finest  of  these  is  called  Key  las,  or 
Paradise.  An  immense  square  is  cut  in  the  top  of 
the  mountain  by  making  a  steep  valley  all  around 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  wide;  above  this  valley  the  temple 
rises  to  the  height  of  nearly  one  hundred  feet.  It 
appears  to  be  supported  by  twenty-four  gigantic 


THE  CAVES  OF  FLORA.  277 

stone  elephants,  twelve  of  which  are  turned  to  the 
north  and  twelve  to  the  south. 

"There  are  three  verandahs,  or  galleries,  on  the 
outside,  with  stone  pillars  and  immense  figures  of 
Hindoo  gods.  The  gateway  is  very  handsome, 
with  small  apartments  about  it,  and  immediately 
over  the  gate  is  a  balcony.  On  the  front  of  the 
temple  are  various  sculptured  figures  and  orna 
ments  ;  a  goddess  named  Bhoovani  on  the  right, 
and  Gunputti  on  the  left.  Bhoovani  sits  on  a 
lotus  and  two  elephants  with  their  trunks  twisted 
together. 

"  Near  these  figures  are  two  large  obelisks,  or 
pillars,  beautifully  carved,  and  said  to  be  larger 
than  Cleopatra's  Needle  in  Egypt.  These  obelisks 
by  themselves  would  be  a  great  curiosity,  but  at 
Elora  they  merely  ornament  the  front  of  the 
temple. 

"  Entering  the  gateway,  we  came  upon  several 
suites  of  apartments  on  each  side  full  of  sculp 
tured  figures  of  all  the  animals  and  gods  and  god 
desses  that  Hindoo  superstition  could  possibly 
imagine.  The  monkey  god  Hanumau  is  often 
seen  here,  and  there  is  a  colossal  figure  of  another 
god  with  ten  hands. 

"  Then  we  went  up  by  four  steps  to  a  large  hall 


278  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

and  smaller  temples  within  the  larger  ones ;  they 
are  connected  by  small  ledges  or  bridges  of  rock. 
After  examining  these  we  went  up  a  much  longer 
flight  of  stairs  to  the  portico;  on  the  top  of  this 
portico  are  the  remains  of  a  lion,  and  inside  two 
figures  of  sphinxes. 

"By  three  steps  from  the  portico  we  went  into 
a  small  room  where  a  figure  of  the  bull  god  Nundi 
is  placed.  There  are  passages  of  rock  between  some 
of  the  rooms  up  stairs,  from  which  we  had  a  fine 
view  of  the  country  and  the  village  of  Elora. 

"  Going  back  to  the  portico,  which  is  open  and 
supported  by  pillars,  we  looked  down  upon  the 
front  of  the  temple  below  us,  and  were  lost  in 
wonder  at  its  grand  proportions.  We  found  a  stone 
bench  here,  on  which  we  sat  for  some  time  gazing 
at  the  lonely  grandeur  by  which  we  were  sur 
rounded. 

"After  a  while  we  were  sufficiently  rested  to 
mount  the  four  steps  that  lead  to  the  great  hall. 
On  reaching  the  entrance  of  this  magnificent  apart 
ment,  we  stood  and  gazed  in  silent  wonder. 

"  Massive  pillars  beautifully  sculptured  are 
placed  at  equal  distances  through  the  entire 
iength,  reaching  from  the  smooth  floor  of  solid 
rock  to  the  roof  of  the  same  material.  This 


THE  CA  VES  OF  ELORA.  279 

granite  is  all  so  finely  polished  that  it  is  difficult 
to  recognize  the  familiar  stone  when  wrought  into 
such  forms  of  exquisite  workmanship. 

"At  the  entrance  to  this  hall  are  two  huge 
figures  called  Chubdars,  which  means,  '  keepers  of 
silence;'  they  are  usually  placed  with  a  clul>,  or 
chouree,  in  their  hands,  in  state-apartments,  to  en 
force  order  and  quiet.  Only  stone  ones  would  be 
needed  at  Elora,  where  the  silence  may  be  almost 
felt.  The  depth  of  the  hall  is  over  one  hundred 
feet,  and  there  are  balconies  at  the  end  of  it,  with 
stone  benches  like  that  in  the  portico.  Several  of 
the  principal  figures  of  Hindoo  mythology  are 
sculptured  here,  and  figures  of  sphinxes  are  carved 
like  those  we  see  in  pictures  of  Egypt. 

"  There  are  immense  galleries  leading  from 
temple  to  temple  and  from  one  suite  of  apartments 
to  another;  these  galleries  are  all  supported  by 
pillars,  some  of  which  are  round,  some  square  and 
others  eight  sided. 

"  We  spent  two  full  days  in  examining  all  these 
wonders,  and  we  felt  then  that  time  enough  had 
not  been  given  to  them.  We  lodged,  meanwhile, 
in  the  pagoda,  and  as  we  took  our  provisions  with 
us,  we  managed  to  get  along  quite  comfortably. 
Our  Bheel  guide  and  protector  was  a  great  con- 


THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INLIA. 

venience,  but  it  was  quite  evident  that  he  did  not 
appreciate  our  enthusiasm  about  Elora,  and  when 
asked  what  he  thought  of  the  great  hall,  he  re 
marked  that  '  it  would  be  a  good  place  to  sleep  in.' 

"The  temple  that  I  have  been  describing  is  the 
largest  of  the  group,  but  we  also  visited  a  number 
of  others  called  Des  Avatar,  Teen  Tal,  Do  Tal, 
Visvacarma,  Jugnaut,  Indra,  Jaunwassee,  Nilacan- 
thu,  Rama  Warra,  and  I  do  not  know  how  many 
more." 

"Oh,  grandmamma,"  said  Minnie,  who  had 
been  very  quiet  for  some  time,  "  how  can  you 
remember  so  many  of  these  dreadful  names  ?" 

"  I  could  not,  I  suppose,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford, 
"  if  most  of  them  were  not  the  names  of  Hindoo 
gods  that  are  very  familiar  to  me.  I  cannot  tell 
you  much  of  these  other  temples,  but  I  will  try  to 
give  you  some  little  idea  of  them.  Teen  Tal  is  a 
very  beautiful  temple  of  three  stories  with  regular 
flights  of  stairs  as  in  a  large  dwelling-house.  Like 
Keylas,  it  has  grand  pillars  and  finely-shaped 
figures,  with  galleries,  halls  and  endless  sets  of 
rooms. 

"The  temple  of  Visvacarma  is  quite  different 
from  the  others  in  having  an  arched  roof,  while 
the  altar  at  the  farther  end  is  a  large  mass  of  rock 


THE  CA  VES  OF  FLORA.  281 


in  the  form  of  a  half  globe.  An  even  row 
sided  pillars  extends  the  entire  length  of  the  temple 
on  each  side,  and  a  sitting  figure  is  sculptured  at 
the  top  of  each  pillar. 

"The  temple  of  Indra,  also  a  magnificent  build 
ing,  is  in  honor  of  a  god  from  whom  the  name  of 
India  is  said  to  be  derived." 

"  Does  no  one  know  who  built  these  temples, 
either?"  asked  Harry.  "They  weren't  always 
there,  were  they,  grandmamma?" 

"Their  origin  is  quite  unknown,"  replied  his 
grandmother.  "The  Hindoos  have,  of  course,  a 
foolish  story  about  them,  something  like  this  : 

"THE   LEGEND   OF   ELORA. 

"A  follower  of  Brahma,  who  was  a  very  holy 
man,  had  a  son  named  Conroo  and  a  brother  who 
was  called  Pandoo.  These  two  men  were  to  gov 
ern  the  world,  but  they  disputed  about  their  re 
spective  powers. 

"  They  were  told  to  settle  the  matter  by  a  game 
of  chance,  and  Conroo  won.  Pandoo  then  re 
solved  to  seek  some  quiet  place  away  from  the 
world  to  hide  himself  in,  and  taking  his  wife, 
he  started  on  a  journey  and  came  at  last  to 
Elora. 


282  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  IND*A. 

"After  a  while  he  had  five  sons,  and  when  they 
were  grown,  they  began  to  dig  caverns  to  please 
the  god  Krishna,  and  they  prayed  to  the  god  to 
grant  them  a  night  that  would  last  a  whole  year, 
that  it  might  be  said  that  these  wonderful  caves 
in  which  they  were  building  temples  were  done 
in  a  night. 

"  When  all  the  temples  were  finished,  day 
dawned  again,  and  the  brothers  were  sent  in  dif 
ferent  directions  to  tell  people  of  the  miracle. 
Multitudes  flocked  to  Elora  to  gaze  upon  the  work 
and  see  the  family  of  Pandoo. 

"  The  father  was  soon  taken  to  a  better  world  on 
account  of  his  piety,  and  the  five  brothers  reigned 
supreme  over  a  great  part  of  the  world  below. 
All  who  opposed  them  found  it  useless,  for  they 
were  aided  by  Krishna,  because  they  had  per 
formed  such  holy  works  in  his  honor." 

"That's  just  like  a  fairy  tale,"  said  Minnie. 

"Yes.  grandmamma,"  said  Harry;  "it  sounds 
like 'Jack's  Beanstalk.'" 

"  It  is  only  a  sample  of  the  childish  stories  that 
are  told  of  the  Hindoo  gods,"  continued  Mrs. 
Wildford,  "and  we  could  not  help  thinking,  as  we 
gazed  upon  these  noble  works  of  art,  that  they  de- 


THE  CA  VES   OF  ELORA.  283 

served  a  better  history  than  this.  Frequent  pil 
grimages,  are  made  to  the  temples  of  Elora,  and 
we  often  met  people  M'ho  had  come  a  long  distance 
to  pay  puja  to  some  favorite  idol  considered  doubly 
sacred  here.  Brahmins  sometimes  take  up  their 
residence  in  a  verandah,  or  gallery,  and  in  one 
spot  we  even  saw  clothes  hanging  out  to  dry,  which 
looked  very  much  like  the  presence  of  a  family 
near. 

"  We  had  spent  two  days  in  constant  sight-see 
ing,  and  although  sorry  to  leave  a  place  of  so 
much  interest,  which,  in  all  human  probability,  I 
should  never  see  again,  I  scarcely  felt  able  to  do 
anything  but  rest  after  the  unwonted  fatigue. 

"We  traveled  slowly,  with  our  Bheel  guide  and 
my  palanquin  and  dhak,  as  before,  meeting  Avith 
pilgrims  and  devotees  for  several  miles  after  we 
left  Elora.  From  these  people  we  heard  so  much 
of  the  fortress  of  Dowlutabad,  of  which  we  had 
had  a  distant  glimpse  on  the  way,  that  we  did  not 
feel  willing  to  leave  that  part  of  India  without  pay 
ing  it  a  flying  visit.  It  was  about  fourteen  miles 
out  of  our  way,  but  this  did  not  seem  much  when 
we  had  already  traveled  so  far. 

"  So  we  went  to  Dowlutabad,  and  we  felt  quite 
repaid  for  our  trouble.  It  was  the  most  remark- 


284  THE  WILDFORDS  IN  TNDTA. 

able-looking  fortress  we  had  ever  seen,  and  this 
engraving  is  a  very  good  representation  of  it." 

"It  stood  out  boldly  and  grandly,  a  huge  rock 
with  very  steep  sides,  for  some  distance,  and  then  it 
rose  in  a  series  of  terraces  to  the  very  top,  that  was 
crowned  by  a  handsome  building  occupied  by  the 
killahdor,  or  governor." 

The  children  could  fully  appreciate  the  beauty 
of  the  picture,  and  Sarah's  admiration  was  un 
bounded. 

"  You  will  see,"  continued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  that 
there  is  a  very  strong  wall  around  the  fort  and  an 
outer  one  around  the  town.  There  is  a  secret  pas 
sage,  which  you  do  not  see,  that  is  hewn  out  of  the 
very  heart  of  the  mountain  and  winds  up  to  the 
top  of  the  hill.  There  are  trap-doors  in  this  pas 
sage,  and  flights  of  steps  lead  from  them  to  the 
outer  ditch.  These  are  to  be  used  by  those  in  the 
fortress  if  enemies  should  get  into  the  j»assage. 

"The  fortress  of  Dowlutabad  has  changed 
owners  several  times,  and  Ahmed-S^ah-Nizam, 
who  gave  his  name  to  Ahmednuggur,  iook  it  in 
1633.  But  it  has  been  for  some  years  jp*wt  in  pos 
session  of  a  native  ruler. 

"And  now,  my  dear  children,  grandnian>ma  has 
really  talked  herself  out  of  breath  for 


THE  CAVES  OF  ELORA.  285 

wonder  how  much  you  will  remember  :>f  what  I 
have  told  yon  ?" 

"I  remember  ever  so  much,"  said  Minnie, 
brightly;  "I  liked  to  hear  about  these  caves, 
grandmamma." 

"  The  fortress  was  jolly,"  said  Harry. 

"  I  did  not  find  it  at  all  so,"  replied  his  grand 
mamma,  smiling;  "it  looked  very  frowning  in 
deed." 

"  Oh,  well,  you  know  what  I  mean,  grand 
mamma;  I  suppose  that  Minnie  would  call  it 
nice.  Some  day  I  am  going  to  read  about  those 
caves  in  a  great  book  that  papa  has  in  the  library." 

Grandmamma  thought  this  a  very  good  plan  in 
deed,  and  the  little  party  soon  dispersed  with  many 
expressions  of  gratitude. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  HEAVENLY  INHERITANCE. 

AVE  we  almost  used  India  up,  grand 
mamma?"  asked  Minnie,  quite  sadly,  when 
they  were  gathered  around  Mrs.  Wildford 
the  next  evening. 
"I  cannot  promise  you  a  great  deal  more,"  was 
the  reply,  "but  since  my  narratives  have  interested 
you  in  the  subject,  I  shall  hope  that  you  will  read 
the  missionary  reports  for  yourselves  and  see  what 
a  great  work  is  going  on.  But  there  are  some 
other  reports  that  I  should  like  to  hear  before 
I  begin.  How  about  the  radish  crop,  and  the 
pocket-handkerchiefs,  and  doing  without  sweet 
things,  and  all  the  grand  plans  that  my  little 
friends  proposed  ?" 

Two  banks  were  speedily  opened.  Harry  pro 
duced  a  dollar  from  his  radish-bed,  and  reported 
his  second  crop  as  in  the  ground,  with  two  more 
dollars,  the  fruit  of  self-denial,  while  Minnie  had 
earned  fifty  cents  1:y  sewing,  and  modestly  produced 

286 


THE  HEAVENLY  INHERITANCE.  287 

three  dollars  which  her  mother  hid  given  her  as 
an  equivalent  for  cake,  preserves  and  other  dainties. 

"  Well  done  !v  said  grandmamma,  kissing  both 
eager  faces.  "I  call  this  a  very  good  beginning 
indeed.  I  have,  besides,  Harry's  five  dollars  (Har 
ry  looked  rather  sheepish  at  this),  and  with  Sarah's 
five—" 

"  Why,  Sarah!"  interrupted  Minnie  in  astonish 
ment.  "Did  you  really  give  five  dollars  to  the 
missionaries?  You  told  me  that  you  wouldn't  give 
anything?" 

Sarah  was  in  dire  confusion. 

"It  was  really  your  grandmamma's  giving,  Miss 
Minnie:  I  only  knitted  a  shawl  for  it;  but  I'm 
sure  I  didn't  say  I  wouldn't  give  anything  to  the 
missionaries." 

"Sarah  gave  her  time,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford, 
kindly — "  the  little  time  that  she  could  really  call 
her  own — and  as  she  happened  to  make  just  the. 
thing  I  wanted,  in  the  nicest  possible  way,  I  gladly 
bought  it  for  the  missionary  cause." 

"  Oil,  Sarah,"  whispered  Minnie,  with  her  anus 
around  her  neck,  "  I  called  you  mean  and  hate 
ful,'  and  I  don't  know  what  all,  and  all  the  time 
you  were  so  good." 

"  Well,  Miss  Minnie,"  was  the  laughing  reply, 


288  THE   WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  you  know  I'm  used  to  having  you  scold  me,  and 
I'd  really  rather  you'd  do  that  than  to  call  me 
'  good/  for  I'm  not  good  at  all." 

"It  is  a  great  deal,  my  child,  to  know  that," 
said  Mrs.  Wildford,  encouragingly.  "  If  God  has 
shown  you  yourself,  pray  that  he  will  yet  show 
you  himself:  none  who  truly  come  to  him  are  ever 
cast  out.  I  think  I  will  tell  you  this  evening  a 
story  of  the  heavenly  inheritance,  which  I  hope  we 
shall  all  strive  for  and  obtain.  This  happened 
on  our  homeward  journey,  and  it  seemed  to  us  a 
strange  parallel  to  the  case  of  the  man  who  said 
to  our  Lord,  'Speak  to  my  brother,  that  he  divide 
the  inheritance  with  me.' 

"  We  returned  to  Ahmednuggur,  where  we  had 
left  the  children,  and  our  Bheel  guide  left  us  at  the 
village  where  he  had  joined  us.  Our  friends  at 
Ahmednuggur  insisted  upon  keeping  us  with  them 
for  two  or  three  days,  to  get  up  our  strength  after 
the  fatigue  of  so  much  sight-seeing,  and  the  day 
after  our  arrival  there  a  Hindoo  came  into  the 
compound  and  said  that  he  wished  to  see  Padre 
Sahib  B . 

"This  was  the  clergyman  at  whose  house  we 

were  staying,  and  when  Mr.  B went  out  to 

him,  the  man  told  him  that  he  had  come  to  ask  his 


THE  HEAVENLY  INHERITANCE.          289 

advice.  He  had  a  lawsuit  then  in  the  court  against 
his  brother,  who  had  not  been  willing  to  divide 
their  father's  estate  with  him,  and  he  wished  to 
know  how  it  was  best  for  him  to  proceed. 

"  Families  in  India  are  in  the  habit  of  living  to 
gether;  all  the  sons  bring  their  wives  home,  and 
additions  are  built  to  the  house  as  the  family  in 
creases.  They  have  everything  in  common,  and 
live  in  this  way  until  some  quarrel  takes  place. 
This  had  probably  been  the  case  with  the  man  who 

came  to  Mr.  B ,  and  leaving  his  father's  house,  he 

naturally  wished  to  take  with  him  his  share  of  the 
property.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  lower  castes ; 
and  his  father,  he  said,  had  been  dead  for  some  time. 

"  The  missionary  did  not  answer  his  question, 
but  began  talking  to  him  of  the  heavenly  inherit 
ance. 

" '  There  is  a  piece  of  property,'  said  he,  '  a  great 
deal  more  valuable  than  any  your  father  left,  and 
you  may  have  it  for  the  asking.  Get  that,  and 
you  are  rich  for  eternity,  but  this  world  and  the 
fashion  of  it  pass  away.' 

"The  man  was,  at  first,  simply  astonished  that 
the  Padre  Sahib  should  reply  to  him  in  such  a  way 
as  this,  but  he  soon  became  interested  in  what  he 
said,  and  listened  eagerly  to  every  word. 

19 


290  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

" '  I'll  do  it !'  said  he, '  I'll  get  it !'  and  he  rushed 
suddenly  out  of  the  compound,  and  went  off  at  a 
quick  pace. 

"  The  next  day  the  Hindoo  came  again  and 
asked  for  Mr.  B . 

"  *  I've  done  it !'  said  he,  with  great  satisfaction. 

"'What  have  you  done?'  asked  the  missionary. 

" '  Why,  I  have  taken  my  case  out  of  court.' 

" '  But  I  did  not  tell  you  to  do  that,'  remon 
strated  Mr.  B ,  who  feared  that  trouble  might 

ensue  to  the  missionaries  if  they  were  charged  with 
meddling  in  such  affairs. 

" '  I  do  not  care  for  it  any  longer,'  was  the  reply  ; 
'my  brother  may  keep  all  the  property  now.  I 
want  to  hear  more  about  the  inheritance  you  told 
me  of  yesterday.  I  want  to  know  how  I  can  get 
possession  of  it.' 

"Mr.  B took  the  earnest  inquirer  into  his 

study,  and  pointed  him  faithfully  to  the  heavenly 
home  where  his  inheritance  was  ready  for  him,  to 
the  loving  Elder  Brother  who  had  redeemed  it  for 
him,  and  to  the  Father  who  waited  to  bestow  it. 

"Your  grandfather  also  talked  with  the  man, 
and  he  was  very  much  moved  by  his  earnestness, 
and  his  literal  way  of  receiving  these  heavenly 
truths.  He  really  seemed  to  hunger  and  thirst 


THE  HE. i  r/-:.v/.r  INHERITANCE.       291 

after  righteousness,  and  the  one  idea  with  which  he 
had  first  come  to  the  missionary  appeared  to  have 
been  put  entirely  out  of  his  head. 

"  \Ve  felt  so  much  interested  in  this  new  disciple 
that  Mr.  B promised  to  write  to  us  of  his  pro 
gress;  and  we  soon  heard  that  he  had  given  up 
everything  and  had  been  received  into  the  mission- 
house.  There  was  no  doubting  his  perfect  sin 
cerity,  and  in  his  case  none  could  forbid  water 
that  he  should  be  baptized. 

"Meanwhile,  his  brother  was  very  much  puzzled 
at  his  proceedings — first,  in  withdrawing  the  C:H<- 
when  so  much  was  at  stake,  and  then  in  leaving  all 
that  he  had  hitherto  cared  for,  to  go  to  the  mission 
aries.  He  resolved  to  talk  with  him,  and  he  pre 
sented  himself  in  the  compound  and  asked  for 
Sivaji. 

"This  was  the  converted  brother,  and  he  listened 
dreamily  while  the  other  began  to  speak  of  the  in 
heritance,  and  to  assure  him  that  he  did  not  want 
it  all,  only  his  share  of  it. 

"'But  I  do  not  want  any/  replied  Sivaji;  'I 
have  something  better  than  that  trash,  which  is  not 
worth  dividing.' 

" '  Have  you  found  hidden  treasure,  then  ?' 
asked  his  brother  in  surprise. 


292  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"  '  Yes,'  was  the  reply ;  '  I  have  found  the  pearl 
of  great  price;  and  I  am  not  going  to  give  it  up 
for  a  paltry  rice-field  or  two,  that  I  cannot  take 
with  me  when  I  die.' 

" '  I  know  what  you  mean  now,'  said  the  brother ; 
'you  are  a  Christian.' 

u  *  I  am,  and  as  a  Christian  I  care  nothing  for 
the  things  that  once  seemed  to  me  so  large.  Keep 
the  inheritance,  brother,  for  I  have  a  much  greater 
one  in  heaven.  You  too  may  have  one  if  you  will 
pay  the  price  for  it.' 

" '  Tell  me  of  it,'  said  the  other. 

"Sivajiand  his  brother  seated  themselves  on  a 
wooden  bench  under  some  mango  trees,  and  teacher 
and  scholar  were  both  so  earnest  that  they  did  not 

see  Mr.  B ,  who  had  come  behind  them  and 

listened  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to  Sivaji's  simple 
account  of  his  conversion,  and  the  peace  and  joy  he 
found  in  believing. 

" ( I  must  think  of  this,'  replied  his  brother  as 
he  turned  to  leave  and  made  his  salaam  to  the 
Padre  Sahib.  'I  want  this  inheritance  too,  and  as 
Sivaji  has  given  up  all  that  he  had  for  it,  and  is 
not  sorry,  but  rather  glad,  there  must  be  something 
in  it.' 

"'There  is  everything  in  it,' said  Mr.  B ; 


THE  HEAVENLY  INHERITANCE.         293 

"'life  eternal  and  all  things  else  that  God  sees  fit 
to  add.' 

"  He  gave  the  man  a  copy  of  one  of  the  Gospels, 
and  bade  him  road  it  carefully  and  pray  for  a  teach 
able  spirit. 

"It  was  not  long  before  Sivaji's  brother  joined 
him  at  the  mission-house,  and  then  only  one  brother 
was  left  with  the  earthly  inheritance  all  to  himself. 

'•'He  was  a  very  bigoted  Hindoo,  and  had  always 
a  heathen  argument  ready  for  any  Christian  who 

ventured  to  approach  him.  One  day  Mr.  B 

met  him  in  quite  a  public  place,  and  the  man,  who 
thought  this  a  good  opportunity  to  show  his  clever 
ness,  called  out  loudly, 

"'See  here,  Padre  Sahib,  I  am  ready  to  turn 
Christian  just  so  soon  as  you  can  convince  me  that 
Christianity  is  older  than  the  Hindoo  religion.' 

"The  missionary  turned  around  with  a  smile, 
and  pointing  to  the  ragged  and  uncleanly  garment 
that  could  not  be  said  to  cover  its  owner,  he  replied  : 
'And  I,  rny  friend,  am  willing  to  put  on  a  ragged 
shirt  just  so  soon  as  you  can  convince  me  that  an 
old  garment  is  better  than  a  new  one.' 

"The  Hindoo  glanced  from  his  tattered  robe  to 
the  spotless  linen  of  the  Padre,  while  the  crowd 
around  them  laughed  at  his  discomfiture.  He  was 


294  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

sparing  of  his  rupees,  and  made  his  garments  last 
longer  than  his  neighbors'.  They  were  quite  will 
ing,  therefore,  that  the  Padre  Sahib  should  have 
the  advantage  of  him. 

"That  old  shirt  in  time  did  its  work,  and  the 
family  of  brothers,  who  had  begun  by  quarreling 
over  an  earthly  inheritance,  were  reunited  in  seek 
ing  a  heavenly  one." 

"  That  is  a  very  nice  story,  ma'am,"  said  Sarah, 
really  meaning  a  great  deal  more  than  she  said. 

Harry  was  looking  quite  serious,  and  wishing 
that  the  heavenly  inheritance  could  seem  more  real 
to  him,  while  Minnie  was  sorrowfully  reflecting 
that  this  was  probably  the  last  story  about  India. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

PAST  AXD    r/tESK\T. 

|OU  must  think  of  something  more,  grand 
mamma,''  said  Harry,  the  next  evening; 
"yon  didn't  really  make  an  end  of  India, 
did  you  ?" 

"  Not  quite,"  replied  his  grandmamma,  smiling 
at  all  the  inquiring  faecs,  "but  as  I  think  you 
would  searcely  be  satisfied  unless  I  went  regularly- 
through  my  whole  experience  as  a  missionary,  and 
I  am  not  quite  equal  to  that,  I  shall  have  to  make, 
this  the  last  of  our  regular  '  talks  '  for  the  present. 
Do  not  look  so  miserable,  Minnie;  there  will  be 
plenty  to  say  on  India  at  different  times;  it  is  only 
this  regular  eotirse  of  lectures  that  I  propose  to 
abandon." 

"Mamma  says  that  we  have  worn  you  out,  this 
winter,"  said  Minnie  regretfully  as  she  gazed  at 
her  grandmamma,  "but  I  am  sure  we  didn't  mean 
to,  and  it  lias  been  so  nice  to  come  in  here." 

"  It  has  Ix-en  jolly,"  said  Harry,  warmly  ;  "  but 

295 


296  THE   W1LDPOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

I  forgot — grandmamma  does  not   like  that  word 
Papa  says  he  means  to  have  a  statue  made  of  you 
as  Patience,  with  us  all  sitting  around  you,  and  my 
missionary  hen  in  the  background.     It's  a  shame 
that  I  never  got  that  hen,  isn't  it,  grandmamma?" 

"I  am  not  at  all  'worn  out/"  said  Mrs.  Wild- 
ford  in  reply,  "and  I  am  quite  sure  that  I  shall 
not  sit  for  a  statue  of  Patience.  What  remains 
now  of  my  recollections  of  India  is  so  sad  that  I 
can  scarcely  trust  myself  to  go  through  those  scenes. 
I  spent  seven  years  there  with  your  dear  grand 
father — happy,  useful  years,  in  spite  of  toil  and 
care  and  hardships ;  and  when  I  left  there  it  was 
with  my  little  fatherless  child,  the  only  one  left 
me  of  a  band  of  four.  The  fierce  Indian  sun,  to 
which  he  had  been  exposed  for  hours,  struck  your 
grandfather  down  as  he  was  preaching  to  some 
men  just  outside  of  a  pagoda,  and  he  was  carried 
into  a  heathen  temple  to  die. 

"  He  went  out  from  me  in  health,  and  was 
brought  home  breathless ;  but  his  last  words,  '  For 
Christ's  sake,'  came  to  me  as  a  sweet  fragrance  from 
his  early  tomb.  It  was  a  sorrowful  school  and 
mission  when  the  news  spread  that  their  beloved 
Padre  Sahib  would  walk  among  them  no  more; 
and  the  gentle  care  and  tenderness  of  those  Hindoo 


PAST  AND  PRESENT.  297 

men  and  women  and  children  for  me  and  my 
little  one  were  more  eloquent  than  words  could 
have  been. 

"I  meant  to  labor  on  alone  and  train  my  child 
in  the  land  of  her  birth  to  follow  in  her  lather's 
footsteps,  but  I  soon  broke  down  under  the  double 
burden,  and  was  told  that  only  a  life  of  useless  iu- 
validism  was  before  me  in  that  exhausting  climate. 
Not  without  many  tears  and  struggles  could  I  bring 
myself  to  leave  the  work  I  had  chosen  for  life,  and 
tears  and  prayers  followed  me  to  the  ship  from 
those  whose  conversion  had  been  the  fruit  of  our 
labors  in  India. 

"  When  I  think  of  India  then  and  now,"  con 
tinued  Mrs.  Wildford,  "  it  is  verv  difficult  to  be 
lieve  that  such  a  wonderful  change  has  taken  place. 
What  those  who  sowed  in  those  early  days  sowed 
in  tears,  later  laborers  reap  with  joy.  The  work 
is  so  much  easier  in  every  way  than  it  was;  mis 
sionaries  are  better  equipped  and  better  supported 
than  they  were,  and  they  know  better  how  to  pro 
tect  themselves  against  the  climate.  The  high- 
caste  women,  too,  have  been  reached  in  those  dreary 
/enanas,  and  where  the  gospel  once  penetrates  sin 
and  darkness  can  no  longer  find  a  cover  from  the 
light.  One  of  our  religious  papers  said,  lately, 


298  THE    WILDFOEDS  IN  INDIA. 

that  heathenism  in  India  is  now  only  an  .ipper 
crust,  soon  to  be  broken  by  the  seething  and  up 
heaving  of  the  mass  below.  The  soil  has  been 
watered  with  tears  and  prayers  and  precious  lives, 
and  God  is  giving  the  increase." 

"Is  that  a  letter,  grandmamma?"  asked  Minnie, 
with  great  interest,  "  and  are  you  going  to  read  it 
to  us  ?" 

"  It  is  a  letter,"  was  t^e  reply,  "  and  it  is  from 
some  one  whose  story  you  liked  very  much  indeed. 
Now  can  you  guess  who?" 

"Not  White  Jessamine?"  ventured  Minnie,  in 
a  state  of  incredulous  rapture. 

"  Yes,  it  is  !"  shouted  Harry  ;  "  I  know  by  grand 
mamma's  face.  I  wonder  if  White  Jessamine  spells 
any  better  than  I  do  ?" 

"You  may  look  and  see  when  I  have  finished 
reading  the  letter,"  said  his  grandmamma;  "my 
old  pupil  writes  to  me  once  in  six  months,  and 
keeps  me  informed  of  all  the  changes  that  take 
place  in  the  mission.  I  shall  not  read  her  letter 
regularly  through,  only  parts  of  it  here  and  there. 
She  begins : 

"'MY  DEAR  MAMMA  SAHIB — for  you  must  let 
me  call  you  so  still,  although  so  many  years  have 
passed  since  the  troublesome  little  Hindoo  girl  first 


PAST  AND  PRESENT.  299 

gave  yon  this  name — I  wish  that  you  wore  here, 
only  in  spirit,  though,  for  much  as  I  would  love  to 
see  you  again,  you  must  not  come  to  this  land  to 
die.  It  seems  to  me  that,  as  the  years  roll  on,  I 
feel  more  and  more  what  ]  owe  you,  my  kindest 
earthly  friend,  for  what  you  have  done  for  me.  My 
children,  in  their  daily  faults  and  mischievous 
pranks,  bring  before  me  my  own  childhood  and 
the  trouble  I  must  have  caused  you  and  the  dear 
Padre  Sahib.  Especially  does  your  little  namesake, 
now  just  about  the  age  at  which  you  took  me  under 
your  fostering  care,  and  a  perfect  little  lump  of 
mischief,  remind  me  of  my  own  freaks  and  impa 
tience  of  control.  She  does  me  good,  I  think,  for 
I  have  to  be  patient  with  her,  remembering  what  I 
was  myself.  Only  yesterday  this  small  damsel 
parted  her  hair  on  one  side,  dressed  herself  in  a 
suit  of  her  brother's  clothes  and  declared  her  reso 
lution  of  being  a  boy.'" 

"Oh,  don't  you  remember,  grand  mamma?"  said 
Minnie,  laughing;  "I  suppose  White  Jessamine 
thought  of  the  time  when  she  put  on  grandpapa's 
clothes." 

"She  probably  did,  my  dear;  it  is  very  amusing 
that  she  should  have  such  a  funny  little  edition  of 
herself  to  deal  with.  She  continues: 


300  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

"'When  I  look  at  my  husband,  born  in  the 
haughty  Brahmin  caste  and  married  to  the  daugh 
ter  of  a  rice-gatherer,  I  can  scarcely  believe,  some 
times,  that  I  am  not  dreaming.  Truly  has  Chris 
tianity  made  confusion  with  all  the  honored  Hindoo 
prejudices!  It  would  do  your  heart  good  to  see 
them  cast  aside. 

" '  We  work  hard,  but  we  love  our  work,  and 
there  is  so  much  of  it,  because  the  harvest  is  so 
plentiful.  There  are  not  enough  laborers,  and  I 
do  not  believe  that  there  ever  will  be,  but  all  our 
children  have  been  given  to  the  service  of  the  Lord, 
as  the  pious  Hannah  gave  Samuel  of  old,  and  when 
we  are  called  away,  they  must  take  up  our  work 
where  we  lay  it  down. 

"'On  Christmas  day  we  were  at  the  English 
chapel,  and  oh  what  a  sight  gladdened  our  eyes! 
A  crowd  of  converted  Hindoo  women,  dressed  in 
pure  white,  knelt  there  in  reverent  worship  of  Him 
who  had  called  them  out  of  darkness  into  his  mar 
velous  light,  and  as  we  gazed  upon  them  with  glad 
tears  in  our  eyes,  we  thought  of  the  great  multi 
tude  whom  no  man  could  number,  who  have  washed 
their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb.' " 


PAST  AND  PRESENT.  301 

"Isn't  that  lovely?"  said  Minnie;  "did  White 
Jessamine  really  write  all  that?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Wildford,  "and  she  has 
written  a  great  deal  more,  as  you  may  see  by  all 
these  sheets  of  paper.  I  prize  her  letters  very 
highly ;  and  now,  Master  Harry,  you  may  criticise 
her  spelling." 

"  Well,"  said  Harry,  after  glancing  over  the  neat 
pages,  "  I  guess  she  knows  how  to  spell,  but  I  don't 
see  how  people  ever  can  remember  about  the  two 
1's  and  n's." 

"Oh  my  !"  said  Sarah,  in  an  admiring  whisper; 
"  what  beautiful  writing,  to  be  sure!" 

Mrs.  Bolton  declared  that  it  was  like  copper 
plate  engraving,  and  her  mother  continued,  as  she 
glanced  lovingly  over  the  letter, 

"I  was  always  rather  proud,  I  think,  of  White 
Jessamine's  writing,  for  I  taught  her  myself.  It 
is  pretty  good  for  a  Hindoo  woman." 

"Grandmamma,"  said  Harry,  suddenly,  "I 
really  wish  that  a  bad  boy  could  be  of  some  use  in 
the  world." 

"  The  very  best  thing  that  such  members  of  so 
ciety  can  do,"  was  the  reply,  "  is  to  become  good 
boys  as  soon  as  possible.  And  yet,  Harry,"  con 
tinued  his  grandmamma,  "India  owes  a  great  deal 


302  THE    WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

at  this  day  to  one  who  was  a  very  bad  boy,  and 
who,  certainly,  could  not  be  called  a  good  man." 

This  promised  to  be  exciting,  and  Harry  asked, 
with  interest,  "Another  story,  grandmamma?" 

"  Not  much  of  a  story,"  said  Mrs.  Wildford, 
"but  I  wish  to  tell  you  a  little  of  Lord  Clive, 
through  whose  talents,  energy  and  indomitable 
courage  the  power  of  the  British  in  India  was  so 
firmly  established,  and  through  this  power  the  way 
opened  for  Christian  missionaries  to  carry  the  light 
of  the  gospel  to  that  dark  land  of  the  East. 

"  Lord  Clive  was  born  in  Shropshire,  England,  in 
1725,  and  as  a  boy  he  was  so  remarkably  bad  and 
troublesome  that  he  was  a  constant  torment  to  his 
family,  and  they  had  but  one  feeling  respecting  him, 
which  M-as  to  get  rid  of  him  as  soon  as  possible. 
He  had  a  very  fierce  temper,  and  was  for  ever  in 
street  fights,  but  in  school  he  was  looked  upon  as 
little  better  than  a  dunce. 

"Nothing  was  expected  of  this  hopeless  boy  but 
disgrace  and  trouble,  and  when  an  opportunity  of 
fered  to  send  him  to  India,  which  in  those  days 
was  like  sending  him  to  another  world,  it  was 
thought  to  be  a  most  fortunate  thing.  No  one  ever 
expected  to  see  him  again,  and  owing  to  his  con 
duct,  they  had  very  little  desire  to  do  so. 


PAST  AND  PRESENT.  303 

"Clive  was  only  about  eighteen  years  old  when 
he  left  England  as  a  clerk  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company,  and  he  was  over  a  year  in 
getting  to  Madras,  in  Southern  India.  During  a 
war  with  the  French,  and  afterward  with  the  na 
tives,  our  young  Englishman  entered  the  army, 
and  by  his  courage  and  presence  of  mind  he  gained 
one  victory  after  another.  The  siege  of  Arcot  and 
the  battle  of  Plassey  are  the  most  famous  of  these 
victories.  Clive  also  subdued  the  native  rulers, 
dethroning  one  and  setting  up  another  as  he  siw 
fit.  He  was  accused  of  cruelty  and  love  of  gain, 
and  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  quite  free  from 
those  charges,  but  the  bad  boy  had  grown  to  he  a 
much  better  man  than  could  have  been  expected, 
and  like  most  successful  men,  he  had  many  rivals 
and  enemies  who  lost  no  opportunity  of  injuring 
him.  He  governed  India  firmly  and  judiciously 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  when  he  returned  to 
England,  he  left  the  country  in  a  better  condition 
than  it  had  ever  been  in  before. 

"  His  friends  gave  him  a  warm  welcome,  for  he 
returned  with  wealth  and  honors,  but  he  was 
called  upon  to  answer  very  serious  charges,  and  he 
was  pursued  to  the  last  by  jealous  enemies.  In 
spite  of  his  brilliant  life,  Lord  dive's  death  was  the 


304  THE   WILDFORDS  IN  INDIA. 

saddest  that  can  be  imagined — that  of  a  suicide — 
and  he  whose  ambition  God  used  as  an  instrument 
for  the  spread  of  his  blessed  gospel  died  himself 
without  a  hope  in  Christ,  impiously  taking  the  life 
that  God  had  given." 

"Poor  Lord  Clive !"  said  Minnie,  compassion 
ately  ;  "  I  am  so  sorry  that  he  was  not  a  good  man  !" 

"  I  am  sorry  that  he  was  not  a  good  man  as  well 
as  a  great  soldier,"  said  Harry ;  "  I'd  like  to  go  and 
fight,  and  win  battles." 

"And  come  back  dead  1"  exclaimed  Minnie,  in  a 
piteous  tone. 

"  No,  you  dear  little  goosey !  if  I  were  dead,  I 
wouldn't  come  back  at  all.  How  could  I  ?" 

"  I  hope  that  you  will  both  be  soldiers,"  said 
their  grandmamma. 

The  children  looked  at  her  in  surprise. 

"And  fight  manfully  under  Christ's  banner 
against  all  the  sins  that  so  often  get  the  better  of 
you.  We  must  first  let  the  light  of  the  gospel 
shine  in  our  own  hearts,  for  then  only  shall  we  be 
fit  to  carry  it  to  the  dark  places,  east  or  west, 
north  or  south,  where  its  lifegiving  beams  have 
not  yet  penetrated." 


A     000286145     8 


